A Trick of Sunlight: Poems

The Man from Provins

The Man from Provins (as related in Joinville’s chronicle of the crusade of Louis IX) After Damietta fell, I pitied them As one might pity any wretched prisoners; I saw too what I’d been, friendless and filthy, Emaciated, sick, a foolish failure. My friends said I should parley with their king And though I was concerned I’d jeopardize The life I’ve built up here, a kind of guilt, Or curiosity, or something worse, Persuaded me to be their dragoman. You should have seen their faces when my voice Betrayed that I was French like them, or had been. I don’t know what I’d hoped for. What I got Was royal anger and a show of horror, The usual rhetoric of new arrivals, Made sharper by that piety of his, Of which his hangers-on are all so proud. But holy horror’s of no use to me: I left him in his tent, relieved to stand Back in the sunlight where a man can see things. Then one of them, as if to make amends, Came out, and caught my arm, and questioned me, Eager to know exactly where I’d come from And why I’d stayed. I told him bluntly then I was from Provins, famous for its fairs, A place that had been rich, a handsome town 8 You are reading copyrighted material published by Ohio University Press/Swallow Press. Unauthorized posting, copying, or distributing of this work except as permitted under U.S. copyright law is illegal and injures the author and publisher. Perched on its hill above the fertile plain, Become a haunt of beggars and stray dogs, No building going forward, and the young men, Or those who had their wits about them, leaving. Why should I long for that? I’ve vineyards here, A noble house, and other men’s respect, Besides which I have now acquired two things I love in my ungainly, foreign way: The language of my neighbors, and a wife. He asked me urgently about the faith Which he insisted was still mine, or should be; I answered him as seemed appropriate, So that he left believing what he wished to. 9 You are reading copyrighted material published by Ohio University Press/Swallow Press. Unauthorized posting, copying, or distributing of this work except as permitted under U.S. copyright law is illegal and injures the author and publisher. ...