Composer to the King
Jean Baptiste Lully
A little ugly man who kept
The king awake while Boileau slept,
He caught the motes of golden spite
The age struck off in music light
And elegant as Virtue's war
With Love and Wit: a passepied for
The flutes and kettledrums, to charm
Madame de Montespan, and arm
Himself against the cruel ray
Of boredom from le Roi Soleil.
He flattered to a fine excess,
For irony would not impress
The lady; and the philosophe,
Too dull to hear, kept dozing off.
Moliére himself could not dispel
The tyranny of time so well;
No classic fountain could amuse
A mistress sated with the views
Mansard arranged: moonlit, sublime,
Like décor for a pantomime:
Zeus and his goddesses at play
Far off along the grande allée.
Who else had set the king to dance
Like an Egyptian? Now all France
Rang with his music. He had fame
And wealth. He would become a name
To teach the avaricious heart
The politics of love and art.
Structure
29 lines · 2 stanzas