Date: Sat, 17 Oct 1998 04:25:20 -0500 (CDT)
From: "J. Michael Shew" <jshewkc@cyclops.pei.edu>
To: minstrel@rt.com
Subject: minstrel: Re: A poetic construction for review
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	May I offer a poem for consideration?  Please offer critique,
publicly on the list if you wish.  I normaly do Norse meters, so this is a
stretch.
	I have recently been translating a few period pieces from the
original languages.  (Okay, so I have really weird ways of entertaining
myself!)  And in the process I found a fairly interesting meter in Gaelic
that fascinated me.  I also needed to write a poetic memorial for a friend
who died recently.  The two seemed melded together, as she would have been
a Norse living in Ireland.
	The source poem is from the Tain Bo Chuailgne, and concerns the
mourning of Chchulian for his son.  I realize the structure of the
resulting poem is different than the pur Gaelic, but English doesn't quite
get that pure and simple to use in some cases.  The additional sylable
here or there is my own lack of skill.

  The result is this:

	Signy

        This seat by the fire where no one will sit
        The horn that is dry where no one will drink
        The laughter is gone that danced to our wit
        And no magic can find her

        The friend that we knew is gone from our fire
        The sister we loved is far from our land
        There is no drum, no pipe, and no lyre
        To reach the ear of our sister

        Sing her no sad songs. smile for her memory
        A cloak of white feathers hangs from her neck
        Wild wind she rides, on Odin's own journey
        So do the Valkyries greet her

        A song by the fire where we all will sit
        Our horns we will drain where she would have drunk
        Honor her laughter, and sharpen your wit
        This is the magic to find her
        Our circles will remember


        Mikal


_______________________________________________________________________________
           Mikal the Ram, an annoying bard of no redeeming qualities
______________________________jshewkc@cyclops.pei.edu__________________________

		"The knowlege that you freely share
		You never really lose
		For Mistress and Apprentice
		Are just titles that we use
		When wisdom passes from your hand
		It travels back around again
		And the pupil gives more knowlege back to you"
			(The Mistress' Song, composed for Lucianna)


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