By TH Laird Colyne Stewart, Mar AS 51 (2017)
Marie was apprenticed
to Master Naon na Chruitire of beloved memory. As Naon could not be at Marie’s
elevation, some items of import were chosen to represent him and honour his
memory. As each item was brought into court and placed about Marie, the
following poems were read. (Please note that the Cloak unfortunately did not
make it to the event, so that poem was not read.)
The Harp (Golden
Singer)
Well form’d with love by Naon’s hand,
Sings so grand, truth like a dove,
Twin it had, music taken,
Here, awaken, gold coat clad.
Spirit marked, the wood well worn,
Oh in morn, the sound so good,
Echoes still, with harper’s soul,
T’was his goal—strings play when will’d.
The Cloak
Harper’s cloak, weighted with worth,
Mantle, mirth, smudged with camp smoke,
In wolfen keep, hall of hare,
Camp of bear, let listeners weep.
To the learned Lucie left,
Rough heft, the mortal mien shed,
Light so sharp, to night sky fled,
Bright thread, cape for hallow’d harp.
The Psaltery
String’d psaltery, sweet its sound,
Crowned with notes, fingers flurry,
For nobles played, for decree,
With much glee, it would be bade.
From entrusted Enid on,
To brother, baron, gusted
Sounds so pure, notes oh serene,
In mein and grace, soulful sure.
The Drum (painted
bodhran)
Annoint’d skin, with flower seen,
In dark serene, drummer’s grin,
Call spirits wild—come and dance,
By bardist’s trance, beguil’d.
Friendship’s mark, from hand to hand,
Knotwork band, and history’s arc,
Kept in love, held in respect,
Souls affect, here and above.
Notes on the
composition
Rannaighheacht mhor (pronounced
ron-a’yach voor; great versification) consisted of quatrains made of 7-syllable
lines. Two words in each line must alliterate; lines rhymed abab and so forth.
The end words rhymed internally in opposite lines of each couplet. The end word
of line three rhymes internally with line four. The last word of line four
alliterates with the previous word. Rannaighheacht
(pronounced ron-a’yach; “versification”) were a bruilingeacht version of dán
direach (that is to say they used a simpler rhyme scheme than regular dán direach). All versions of rannaigheacht made use of dunadh. Dúnadh (conclusion) is when a poem began and ended on the same
sound (the same letter, word or syllable).
It can also refer to chain rhyme where the last syllable of one line
rhymes with the first syllable of the next.
Each poem is
shown again below with alliteration marked in bold and rhymes in italic.
The Harp (Golden
Singer)
Well form’d with love by Naon’s hand[1],
Sings so grand,
truth like a dove,
Twin it had, music taken,[2]
Here, awaken, gold
coat clad.[3]
Spirit marked, the wood
well worn,[4]
Oh in morn, the sound so good,
Echoes still,
with harper’s soul,
T’was his goal—strings
play when will’d.[5]
The Cloak
Harper’s cloak, weighted with worth,
Mantle, mirth, smudged with camp smoke,
In wolfen keep[6],
hall of hare[7],
Camp of bear[8],
let listeners weep.
To the learned
Lucie left[9],
Rough heft, the mortal mien shed,
Light so sharp, to night sky fled,
Bright thread,
cape for hallow’d harp.
The Psaltery
String’d psaltery[10],
sweet its sound,
Crowned with
notes, fingers flurry,
For nobles played, for decree,
With much glee, it
would be bade.
From entrusted
Enid[11] on,
To brother, baron[12],
gusted
Sounds so pure,
notes oh serene,
In mein and grace,
soulful sure.
The Drum (painted
bodhran)
Annoint’d skin,
with flower seen[13],
In dark serene[14],
drummer’s grin,
Call spirits wild—come and dance,
By bardist’s trance, beguil’d.
Friendship’s mark,
from hand to hand[15],
Knotwork band, and history’s arc,
Kept in love, held in respect,
Souls affect,
here and above.
[1]
The harp, Golden Singer was made by Naon.
[2] At
the end of each day that Naon worked on this harp, a friend of his at the time
snuck into the shop and duplicated his work, thus building essentially a clone
of Golden Singer. This “stolen” twin apparently does not have as good a sound
as Naon’s work.
[3]
Naon built the harp originally for another musician. When she could no longer
play, she returned it into his keeping. He was surprised to find that she had
spray painted it gold to emulate the golden harp of mythology. Contrary to his
expectations, he found that the paint improved the instrument’s sound rather
than detracting from it. Thus he dubbed it Golden Singer.
[4]
Naon played this harp so often that his arms rubbed off the paint and you can
see their marks on the wood.
[5]
Sometimes this harp will sound for no apparent reason.
[6]
Naon was once Bard of Ealdormere.
[7]
Naon was also once Bard of Skraeling Althing.
[8]
And he was once Bard of Septentria.
[9]
The cloak was left to the keeping of Lady Lucie Pelletierre. Lucie was Naon’s
friend and former PhD advisor.
[10]
Like the harp, Naon made the psaltery (a stringed instrument similar to a dulcimer).
[11]
The psaltery was, for many years, in the keeping of Dame Enid Aurelia, the
first Baroness of Skraeling Althing.
[12]
It was then passed on to Baron Duncan, Naon’s friend and one time roommate.
[13]
The drum skin is painted with knotwork and a trillium.
[14]
The paint apparently glows in the dark.
[15]
The drum was given into the keeping of Dame TSivia bas Tamara v’Amberview.
