Courtly Love
Courtly Love
by Nathaniel S. Rounds
Chivalry isn’t dead
It’s just in remission
Like a cockroach sleeping
There beneath the stove
In Hell’s Kitchen
And I will gladly open the door for you
While you speed through
Eyes closed to my empty gesture
I will carry your books home
Even though nobody reads books
These days and
I will gladly send a bottle of wine
To your table
Even though you hate wine
And this week only
I will offer you my protection
Even though you dwarf me
With those high stiletto heels
Because despite the common consensus
Chivalry isn’t dead
It’s just a coat we sometimes shed
To avoid the heat
I really like this. It’s witty, it’s structured, it takes those three self-defeating turns in the middle with funny, pointed, recognizable grace. But the ending doesn’t provide the zinger I’m led to believe will come. I have to stop and think about it. I guess it means that instead of chivalry donning a mannerly coat, it sheds it “to avoid the heat” of an outright, direct act of passion. Maybe others get this right away, or it doesn’t matter because the surprise is humorous enough. The cockroach sleeping in remission “beneath the stove in Hell’s Kitchen” may set it up. Better I think, if that image came at the end. Still, very amusing.