James atop Chambord in the Loire Valley

TWO MORE POEMS FOR YOUR PLEASURE

The Fairytale Castle by: Robyn Schwartz

Across the ocean and above the lands
Sits a legacy for all curious eyes.
An ivory castle on a lonely peak
Where even the clouds bow down
Beneath its soaring majestic spires.
It was the dream of one king not long ago
That flustered the brow of every fair maiden.
To build for beauty, hold art above war.
Dismissing tradition and logic for lies
And following a single dream to lands end.
He sat on the banks of the river Rhine
Imagining one original palace after the next.
Maybe he shopped in the Marienplatz
For velvet loveseats and porcelain swans
To adorn the seed of his hearts content.
But now the king has been gone for years.
And Bavaria has never quite been the same
Since the death of Kind Ludwig the mad.
His castles stand proud and greet the wanderers
And journeyman, and dreamers and historians alike.
Though all are rare in craft and dripping in style
One of his lonely dreams stands above the rest.
Reaching beyond the Alpine rolling skies
Coloring heaven with a touch of human royalty.
A place any Sleeping Beauty would pray to wake.
It is here, I fell in love again, twice in the time of a year.
First with the earth, its inhabitants achievements
And the very nature that hides them in its breast.
The lakes that capture the suns final rays,
The heaving mountains with their fancy caps of snow,
The whispering cow bells carried by the gentle winds
And the serenity of the painted villages sleeping below.
The second time was with a young mate
Who accompanied me to my secret place.
To cavort once the daily bustles had calmed.
He fell for the battlements I had loved before
Understood the treasures I longed to share.
He carried me up the mountain like a princess
To her new palace on the night they were wed.
He kissed me to the whimpering of waterfalls,
Then watched on as the sun sank to bed.
Blessed be whoever may fall upon this place
Tucked into the heart of the Bavarian Alps
For this is the spot where I proudly left my heart,
And left Neuschwanstein for widened eyes to behold.


Davinci's Stairwell by: Robyn Schwartz

Monsieur Divinci, may I ask how you felt
Cavorting about with French Royalty?
A genius trapped in your everyday skin.
For you have painted mysterious vixens,
And concocted a device to cut out paper hearts,
Defied water and cheated the very air you breath
All because you had a flashing vision.
What was it like to set a muddy foot
Upon the unspoiled grounds of the Loire Valley
And design Chateaus that defy space and time.
I know you left your intricate handprints
Embedded in the foundations of Chambord.
While walking your double helix stairwell,
I could see your face spiraling on the other side
I could hear childish laughter emitting from the cracks
And history pouring out of lone gunshot wounds.
But to think you pointed your finger at this land
And saw it fit to be a golden palace,
Where golden geese could fly to rest their wings.
I stood atop the towers of Chambord
Praising miles of land where knights once tred
Watching the green stretch to kiss a river bank
Where I wished I could be a swan, just to have your wings.
But instead I was left to walk your stairs again
The very fabric your hand once drew.
And leave behind spires, stables and canopy beds
Just to know I walked a moment in your beaten shoes.