It´s Friday; and the warm, sunny weather has me thinking of working outside. I did some practice on the archery range (such as it is) today and avoided slaying any rocks (which should make Jeffrey J. Cohen happy).
Anyway, I've been working on the new War poem project and have it about half-done (three verses of eight plus the stef).
Here is a teaser, the first verse and the stef / refrain:
Stef:
Horsk-ligr konung her-fara!
hlýða þú ok fýlgja
hersir gætr ok herrar
herflokkr gætr ok ýr-menn
kol-augr samna kappsamr
Konung horsk-ligr ör-fara!
Refrain:
Noble king war-go
obey you and follow
barons noble and knights
warriors noble and bow-men
coal-eyed gather eager
King noble war-goes!
Prose Order:
horsk-ligr konung far í hera. Hersig gætr fýlgja ok herrar gætr hlýða. Herflokkr gætr ok ýr-menn kol-augr samna kappsamr. Horsk-ligr konungr far í ör.
Prose Translation:
Go to war, our King! Your noble barons follow! Your noble knights obey! Your noble warriors march! Your coal-eyed eager bowmen gather! Go to war, our King!
Vísu-fyrstyr
Ór hrafna erfíð-virkr heim
Hamðís skyrtur kvámað
kallsað hefndar kaldar
á-kafligr blóða krefði
ígul-kottar útan
ógn-ligr halað frækn-ligr
bogir skyrtur barað
blóðstar kamað drotinn
Verse One
From raven's hard-working home
Hamdir´s shirts arrive -
They demand vengeance cold
hot blood they demand
hedgehogs out
awful they haul boldly
bows archers bear
blood-starling comes lord
Prose order:
Ór hrafna-heim erfíð-virkr Hamðis skyrtur kvámað. Kallsað kaldar hefndar, krefði blóða á-kafligr. Halað frækn-ligr útan ígul-kottar ógn-ligr. Skyrtur barað bogir; blóðstar-drotinn kamað.
Prose translation:
From hard-working Raven´s Heim [Thescorre], an army [Hamðís skyrtur “the shirts of Hamðir” > MAIL SHIRTS > ARMY] arrives. They demand cold vengeance; they demand hot blood! They boldly haul out terrible war-engines [ígul-kottar “hedgehogs” > WAR ENGINES]; archers bear their bows. The raven [blóðstar “blood-starling” > RAVEN] lord comes!
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I'll give you more when I get it done. For now, enjoy & please comment!
Impressive, inspirational and intimidating -- and that's for both the poetry and the process.
ReplyDeleteJoined you as a follower. Looking good on the poem so far. Keep it up and you'll end up famous!
ReplyDeleteThe imagery is good! From sparse words you can conjure up a whole world. I really enjoy the journey you are taking us on! Very artful and skillful is your poetry!
ReplyDeleteThanks, elfmother! And Megge and BlackWolf as well. It is eciting to know that others appreciate the poetry. I hope o have the poem completed early next week.
ReplyDelete