Month: December 2009

English Carol: Fealty With Love

Poetry

Fealty With Love

burden/refrain:
As from below, so from above:
True fealty is a bond of love.

I’ll love my mother ’til I’m dead;
She raised me at her knee.
She broke her bread and always fed
The greater half to me.

I left my home to serve a knight
And wear the squire’s red.
He day and night taught me to fight
And for his love I bled.

In golden spurs I made my start
Among the baron’s corps.
Of his own heart he gave me part;
For him I went to war.

I served the king in foreign lands
And held his banner high.
He led his band with sword in hand;
In their place he would die.

We stood a vigil at his grave,
All brothers of the sword.
The bold and brave each proudly gave
Love’s bond to our lost lord.

This is a song written in the style of a 15th century English carol. It was written in December of 2009. The accompanying music, composed by Lady Alasais Bandeli, can be found here.

Sonnet: Knight-Slayer

Poetry

Knight-Slayer

Twelve years have gone since first I saw that maid
Who went to war with shield and spear in hand.
In shining mail and sturdy helm arrayed
She strode upon the field to make her stand.

Two knights came forth to test the lady’s skill
And each in turn soon found himself no match
For flashing steel and stalwart iron will
That saw them both upon the ground dispatched.

I came to her bare-headed and disarmed
To signal my defeat on bended knee
Submitting to the dark-eyed beauty’s charms
And asking only that she dance with me.

She took my hand and laid her own heart bare
And thus began this endless dance we share.

This is an English sonnet dedicated to my wife, Lady Adela Scrijver van Brugge. It was performed for HRM Deirdre’s Poet Laureate competition on December 6, 2009.