Today's found poem comes from my vampire WIP, featuring a Dark Ages Welsh warrior named Peredur. This poem introduces Tanwen, Peredur's betrothed. She waits for her warrior to return from the fighting against the raiding Irish - only to receive news she does not want to hear.
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God Knew Her Pledge
Fighter from Peredur’s war band
Stood with Father, talking
In a low voice
The two looked towards her
Tanwen’s pulse stopped
Mother stood near
Tanwen didn’t want her there
Didn’t want to hear words of comfort
Could not bear an embrace
That was not her beloved’s
Horrid shuddering started
Her teeth knocking together
Brother, sisters stared at her
One look in Father's eyes
And she knew
Tanwen turned, walked calmly from them all
Path before her shimmered
Tears balanced on lashes
She knew these dips, rises blind
Feet carried her to crag overlooking the bay
Dampness beaded her hair
Awash in tears, inside and out
Seeped unbroken stream
Thought her heart had broken
If she had a heart left to break
Sea birds glided between coast and surf
Crying out her anguish with their shrieks
Why?
Why love such a proud man?
Peredur never listened
She told him he was all she needed
He kept leaving her to fight
To win a name for himself, he’d said
So Father would agree to a match
Where did that leave her?
Betrothed to a corpse
Sobs punched their way through her chest at last
Curled into herself, clutched tight
With arms that could not stop the mourning
Could hear noises, wondered where they came from
Even as her throat ached from crying
She saw nothing except his green eyes
Felt nothing but the whisper of his breath
This couldn’t be real
He was too powerful
Too swift, too expert a fighter
To go down to a spear
The man was mistaken
Peredur was alive somewhere
He couldn’t be gone
Why did she totter on rocks
Slick with mist? Why did she want the
Pain in her chest to stop squeezing? Why
Wasn’t it Peredur arrived at her father’s door
To finally ask for her hand?
Wiping sleeve 'cross her face
Tanwen emerged from the darkness of shock
Felt a presence behind her
Tanwen paused as she turned
Cavan, son of village wise woman
Pale gray eyes gazed upon her
As though he knew
What lay screaming in her heart
Shaking her head, tears starting anew
“It can’t be! It can’t be true!”
Cavan gestured to boulder behind them
“Come and sit with me awhile.”
Cavan helped her to sit
Tanwen’s face felt pummeled
By so much crying
Where could tears come from
When she felt so numb inside?
Cavan turned object in his hand
Her gaze rested on a ring
The ring Peredur’s father had given him
“Where did you get that?”
“Peddler sold it to mother.
She held it in her hand
She saw it all before her.
Everything that happened."
Tanwen fought the urge to grab it
Cavan held it out, dropped it
Onto her outstretched palm
Metal touched her skin
She thought of the ring slipped
From Peredur’s cold hand
Reality ripped a gasp from her throat
Ring nearly tumbled onto scraggly brush
Cavan wrapped solid hands around hers
Ensuring her grip with his own
Tanwen sagged till forehead touched her wrists
If Cavan were not there she would pass out
Crying started again
She could not listen to it
As though
She were someone else
She would not hold her beloved’s ring
If he still lived
She never spoke her pledge of fidelity
Before the village
She’d said it often in her heart
God knew her pledge to be true
He knew that today she became a widow
- Julia Smith, 2009
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Poetry Train Monday - 95 - God Knew Her Pledge
Posted by Julia Phillips Smith at 11:11 AM
Labels: Found poetry, God Knew Her Pledge, Peredur, Poetry Train, Tanwen
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7 comments:
Lovely and powerful. I liked it.
Haven't been around visiting much. Life things keep getting in the way and have kept me very busy.
I'll try to come by more often
Hugs...D
This captures the nature of conflict - and the cost.
Aw, that's sad. You do a great job with your poems, Julia. :)
Another fantastic edition. I could feel her pain.
Wonderful. Poignant. So much pain expressed here.
Moving account, you just have to feel for her!
So tragic...I could feel her complete devastation.
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