Poem: The King Sends Three Cats to Gwenivere by Marjorie Allen Seiffert

I have always been obsessed with the historical Merlin and Arthur and devour Arthurian literature and pop culture. I am currently researching Welsh legend and history for a Merlin verse novel set in Dark Ages Wales, and found this truly wonderful, but creepy verse poem. What do you think and what are your favourite Arthurian poems?

The King Sends Three Cats to Gwenivere

Marjorie Allen Seiffert

Queen Guinevere

Three sleek and silent cats

Bring you gifts from me.

The first is a grey one,

(I wanted a white one,

I could not find one snowy enough

Queen Guinevere,)

He brings you purple grapes.

The second is a grey one,

(I wanted a sleek one,

Where could I find one sleek enough

Queen Guinevere?)

He brings you a red apple.

The third one, too, is grey.

(I wanted a black one,

Not Hate itself could find one black enough,

Queen Guinevere,)

He brings you poison toadstools.

I sent you three grey cats with gifts—

(For uniformity of metaphor,

Since Bacchus, Satan, and the Hangman

Are not contemporaneous in my mythology)

I send you three grey cats with gifts,

Queen Guinevere,

To warn you, sleekly, silently,

To pay the forfeit.