Folly at the Extreme

A Dream of Governors
by Louis Simpson, ©1959

"The deepest dream is of mad governors." ~Mark Van Doren

The Knight from the world's end
Cut off the dragon's head.
The monster's only friend,
The Witch, insulting, fled.
The Knight was crowned and took
His Lady. Good and gay,
They lived in a picture book
Forever and a day.

Or else: When he had sat
So long, the King was old
And ludicrous and fat.
At feasts, when poets told
How he had shed the blood
Of dragons long ago,
He thought, Have I done good
To hear that I did so?

The chorus in a play
Declaimed, "The soul does well
Keeping the middle way."
He thought, That city fell;
Man's life is founded on
Folly at the extreme;
When all is said and done,
The City is a dream.

At night, the King alone
Went to the Dragon's cave.
In moonlight, on a stone,
The Witch sat by the grave.
He grasped her by the hand
And said, "Grant what I ask!
Bring evil on the land
That I may have a task!"

The Queen has heard his tread;
She shuts the picture book.
The King stands by the bed.
In silence, as they look
into each other's eyes,
They see a buried thing
That creeps, begins to rise,
And spreads the dragon's wing.