A Knyght ther was, and that a worthy man,
That fro the tyme that he first bigan
To riden out, he loved chivalrie,
Trouthe and honóur, fredom and curteisie.
Ful worthy was he in his lordes werre [wars],
And thereto hadde he riden, no man ferre,
As wel in cristendom as in hethenesse [Islamic lands],
And evere honóured for his worthynesse.
At Alisaundre [Alexandria] he was whan it was wonne; …
In Gernade [Granada] at the seege eek hadde he be
Of Algezir [Algeciras], and riden in Belmarye [Ben Marin, the Merinid Dynasty].
At Lyeys [Ayas, now Yumurtalik] was he, and at Satalye [Antalya],
Whan they were wonne; and in the Grete See [Mediterranean]
At many a noble armee hadde he be.
At mortal batailles hadde he been fiftene,
And foughten for oure feith at Tramyssene [Tlemcen]
In lyste thries, and ay slayn his foo.
This ilke worthy knyght hadde been also
Somtyme with the lord of Palatye [Balat, in Turkey]
Agayn another hethen in Turkye;
-Geoffrey Chaucer
Over there, over there
Send the word, send the word over there
That the Yanks are coming
The Yanks are coming
The drums rum-tumming
Everywhere
So prepare, say a prayer
Send the word, send the word to beware
We'll be over, we're coming over
And we won't come back till it's over
Over there
-George M. Cohan
The Battle of the Pyramids. The Invasion of Algiers. The Seige of Kut al-Amara. The Massacre at Fallujah. Each in their own century, and all over there. Yet over there, nothing is ever over. But isn’t it pretty to think so, said he who had also fought over there.
Chaucer’s knyght had trouthe, worthinesse, and honóur on his side. A Navy Seal commander, the modern knyght equivalent in our werre in the hethenesse, was just acquitted of murder for plunging his knife through a wounded and shackled prisoner’s neck. Chivalrie? Curteisie? If your throat can swallow such war propaganda without choking, you can kiss my…- No!, let Chaucer say it…But with his mouth he kiste hir naked ers.