For Siegfried Brandbeorn upon being named a vigilant of the Order of the Pelican

By THLaird Colyne Stewart, February AS 49 (2015)

Siegfried, bold knight,

Look now to light;

Behold what waits,

What monarch states:

For service done,

For honour won,

For duty full,

For grace’s pull,

Bow down your head.

Be not in dread,

As rulers speak

Of phoenix beak,

Of hands hurt raw,

Of wolfen paw,

Of feet sore tread,

Of oaths you said,

Of feasts you cooked,

Of halls you booked,

Of land you tilled,

Of roles you filled.

For service done,

For honour won,

Unbend your knee,

We look to thee,

With glory gird,

We wait your word,

Not done by half,

Most worthy Graf.

Written as a Sprechspruch, a German form employed by the minnesingers. It consists of 4-beat lines, arranged in rhymed pairs. It is unstrophic (that is, it is not divided into regular stanzas) but could be divided into sections of various lengths at the poet’s whim. The form is fairly simple, except for the fact that 4-beat lines are hard to write, what with them being so short!