The Ballad of the Peasant and the Rose
by Nicole
Catapano
The peasant girl felt so
much love when her eyes viewed the sight
of a stately, noble,
majestic one who held the title of Knight.
Upon his horse he’d fight
and joust and gain such glory and fame
while the girl would watch
this noble knight who did not know her name.
She said, “O how I love this
Knight from my head to my tippy toes.
Perhaps I’ll show my love
for him with a scarlet rose.”
The next day she sent the
rose to him after the battle he won,
and she hoped that he would
come to her before the day was done.
Upon receiving this token of
love to his squire he declared,
“I’ll try to show my thanks
to her—the princess with flaxen hair.”
Then the Knight thanked the
young princess with an innocent kiss,
though the rose was not from
this sweet girl but from the peasant miss.
By chance the peasant girl
did view the two in their embrace
and realized that there was
no hope as tears rolled down her face.
Immediately she left that
place from where she lost her desire
and ran into a kind young
man who was the bold knight’s squire.
“How come you face is full
of tears?” inquired the kind young man.
“My heart has been broken in
two,” she replied with her face in her hands.
“I wish I could stop your
tears,” he told the sobbing young girl.
“Because you are so
beautiful I wish I could give you the world.”
“Do you really mean what you
say?” she asked and lifted her head.
He replied, “Oh yes, I
really do mean all the things I said.”
“For days and nights I’ve
been watching you and longing from afar
and gazing at your lovely
face thinking what a beauty you are.”
These words softened the
peasant girl’s heart. She knew she’d found the one
With whom she’d spend her
spare moments from morn to setting sun.
As they embraced the girl
forgot the nameless faceless other.
The one who she no longer
wanted to have as her lover.
So thus the peasant and the
squire would spend their days together
To love and care for one
another and leave each other never.
