Kalenda Martius

For THL Marie l’Englois upon her elevation to the Order of the Laurel

By TH Laird Colyne Stewart, February AS 51 (2017)

This month will see awe

When at Faire, all a draw,

This lady will kneel at feet of law,

Her voice without flaw.

Woven from rough straw

Music, like gold, flows forth from her jaw;

The iciest hearts her tunes can thaw,

Emotions, felt deeply, and so raw.

All in awe,

See no flaw,

Her place her foretold by ka.

Like owl claw,

I here draw,

Dame Marie, I have estampida.

Based on the 14^th century estampida “Kalenda Maya” by Raimbaut de Vaqueiras. The original poem was six stanzas long (each with identical structure) but as estampida are mono-rhyme poems I only wrote one stanza. (Italian has a lot more words that rhyme than English, making recreating Italian poetic forms in English a challenge.) You may notice that I did repeat a few of my rhyming words, but even with the glut of possible Italian words to choose from Raimbaut sometimes repeated words himself. (So I don’t feel as bad about that.) I based the structure of my stanza on the structure of Raimbaut’s. The last line also directly reflects the last line of the original which states: “N'Engles, ai l'estampida.” [Dame Engles, I have the estampida.]

Below is a version of the poem with footnotes.

This month will see awe[1]

When at Faire[2], all a draw,

This lady will kneel at feet of law[3],

Her voice without flaw.

Woven from rough straw

Music, like gold, flows forth from her jaw[4];

The iciest hearts her tunes can thaw,

Emotions, felt deeply, and so raw.

All in awe,

See no flaw,

Her place her foretold by ka[5].

Like owl claw[6],

I here draw[7],

Dame Marie, I have estampida.

---

[1] The title refers to the first of March, as it is in March 2017 that. Marie will be elevated.

[2] The elevation will occur at Kingdom A&S.

[3] Referring to kneeling at the feet of Their Majesties.

[4] Marie is being made a Laurel for her knowledge of Medieval music. I here draw attention specifically to her singing, likening it to Rumpelstiltskin’s ability to weave gold from straw.

[5] Ka is an Egyptian term for part of the soul.

[6] The owl is the bird of wisdom, as Laurels are supposed to be wise as well as learned.

[7] As in I am drawing (or writing) the poem.

What Honour’s Wrought

By THLaird Colyne Stewart, March AS 50 (2016)

My lady I have won for thee.

On the field of chivalry

I took no knee.

I frayed into the anarchy

Of battle’s plea

And there I won it all for thee,

My lady.

My lord you won it not for me.

I did not see chivalry;

I saw your glee;

You take more blows to fell than tree.

You took the key

Of my bount’ous heart’s love for thee;

So beastly.

My lady it was destiny

That drove my sword’s gluttony.

I took no knee

To show your honour’s dignity.

Could I foresee

That my actions were not worthy

My lady?

My lord you’ll find you must agree

That you acted shamefully—

I saw your glee.

You acted discourteously

For all to see

And brought great shame to thee and me

Forever be.

This bit of didactism is an estampida. The 12^th century Provençal genre of the estampida (“uproar”) is related to the Old French estampie. It employed regular stanza structures (that is, all the stanzas looked the same) and a single-rhyme scheme. This poem is loosely based on an estimpida written by Raimbaut de Vaqueiras or Vaqueyras (fl. 1180 – 1207) known as “Kalenda maia” that was an exchange between a knight and his lady.