Grand
Prize Winner
Nicole Catapano
South Glens Falls, NY
The Ballad of the Peasant and
the Rose
I read the poem out loud, and it felt like a song. I closed my eyes and I saw a great feast hall. A slight, wavy-haired bard with mischievous eyes played her mandolin and sang this ballad. And I, like everyone in attendance, applauded. I’m pleased to present to you the first Bards and Sages grand-prize winner.
After reading the Bards and Sages contest announcement in Writer’s Digest (July 2002), Nicole Catapano was compelled to submit "The Ballad of the Peasant and the Rose," a poem about expressions of love in a medieval setting. Although Nicole spends her days conducting research and analyzing data, her passion has always been in creative pursuits from art to songwriting to poetry. In her spare time, Nicole is freelance writing and aims to publish her non-fiction books, essays, and short stories in the near future. Nicole lives in upstate New York with her husband, Brian Lacque, and their two black labs, Buka and Shadow Warrior.
The Ballad of the Peasant and the Rose
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.