TO THE BLACK KNIGHTS THAT WERE NEVER WRITTEN A LAY

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Dontay Givens

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Dontay Givens

<i>"Hello" in your host country's language:</i> Hello <i>Home Institution (your U.S. University/College):</i> Wheaton College <i>Expected graduation year:</i> 2023 <i>Destination city & country:</i> Oxford, UK <i>Program provider:</i> Council for Christian Colleges and Universities <i>Major/minor:</i> English Writing & Sociology <i>Demographics:</i> Black, First-Generation <i>Future career aspirations:</i> Creative Writer and College Professor <i>Top 3 goals for your time abroad:</i> 1. Learning to use the Oxford comma more consistenly 2. Read J. R. R. Tolkien 3. Make a friend

TO THE BLACK KNIGHTS THAT WERE NEVER WRITTEN A LAY

I dreamt of you when reading Sir Degaré; I dreamt of you in Middle English, you are a dream of a dream hiding behind every romance; I dreamt of you in English class; I dreamt of your chivalry that shattered gendered norms; I dreamt of you dressed in black, javelin beneath your arms, sword ready to strike; I dreamt of how in Faerie they would not know how to love you; I dreamt of you being spat at in Camelot; I dreamt of your journey to find your father; I dreamt of what they would call you; I dreamt of you dreaming: a pearl, a river, a green knight with a double-sided axe; I dreamt of the maiden you would marry, would you go back to the Moorish Lands to be wed? I dreamt of your conception, of your mother having nurtured you, telling you to be more than just a knight; I dreamt of you being arrested; I dreamt of you being accused on adultery; I dreamt that you wept because no knight would respect your honor; I dreamt you swooned, that you cradled near a dying fire in a strange land; I dreamt of you in Middle English: your journey through the forest with a rungu, you slayed a dragon, you fought a knight, whose life you spare because of charité, you sought your father, who was a sultan in the Moorish Lands, Arthur turned you away from his court, no one would offer you lodging, you were at your wits-end, this is not a romance—but I dreamt of you. The dream wasn’t happy or sad, it was just a dream.