Thirty-nine Years and Counting

Written on 30 April xxxix (2005)
-- Frederick of Holland

We gathered together to party
Back thirty-nine years less a day;
Being high lords and high ladies,
Taking our parts in a play.

We made a great pact together
To work to retrieve glories past
No one took thought to the question
Of how long we thought it would last.

We met and we fought in our tournies
Four times in that first year around
Little knowing we laid a foundation
Or that that foundation was sound.

The years flew by in a moment
We loved and we frolicked in play
Armor we made, and pavilions
And crowned a lass Queen of the May.

Our artisans worked hard and studied
Made artifacts useful and grand
At the Twentieth Year Celebration
We heard of The Dream of the land.

We have worked to make things more real
But some have had goals far more base
Seek power as did the Medici
To try to hold folk in low place.

But the goals of old Arthur of Britain
Infuse us to this very day.
The King and the Nobles of Peerage
Lend strength to our sense of fair play.

At Thirty we held a grand tourney
At court Kings gave gifts of regard;
Land from the land of our fathers
And land from the first tourney yard.

Tomorrow we start in on Forty
And look back to see what we've done.
In thirty-nine long years of growing,
We've made something great ‘'neath the sun.

(Spoken)

Thirty-nine years now, and counting,
How many more yet to go?
What will we be when we’re Eighty?
What are the ways we will grow?

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