The dog is intent

By THLaird Colyne Stewart, April AS 50 (2016)

The dog is intent

In the window sitting

Barks at those who trespass

As is only fitting

Our lives she protects

From our peaceful neighbours

Who daily go about

Toiling at labours

At the dog shouting

Never who will waver

In her mind a hero

The dog intent, savior.

This poem is written in breccbairdne which were Old Irish quatrains consisting of one 5-syllable line followed by three 6-syllable lines. They rhymed xaxa xbxb (and so on, where the x lines did not rhyme). All end words had two syllables. Poems written in breccbairdne concluded with dúnadh (when a poem began and ended on the same letter, word or syllable).

Carl and Scop

By THLaird Colyne Stewart, April AS 50 (2016)

At fire a scop was speaking

While around him all were drinking

He spoke of his deeds

The giving of beads

And the seeds of thinking.

At back of the flaming fire

A carl calls scop a liar

Calls out tale teller

Calls him lie seller

Pit dweller, insult dire.

The carl, no beard on his chin,

In front of his family and kin,

With head full of mead,

And eyes full of greed,

Pays no heed to his sin.

The scop silent looks at the churl,

Then asks him when he became earl?

What deeds has he done?

What tales has he spun?

Low-born son of swine-pearl.

In what realms the halls he has raised?

In whose heart of hearts is he praised?

What monsters he’s slain,

To whom is he bane,

In the rain what towns razed?

Rebuffed, the carl pulls back his seat,

‘Til all that is seen are his feet,

Consumed by the dark,

Struck now with a mark,

Far from spark and fire’s heat.

Written in Clogyrnach (pronounced clog-ir’-nach) which is n awdl stanza form. It consisted of two 8-syllable lines, followed by two 5 syllable lines and two 3-syllable lines. The last two lines or four lines could also be collapsed into one line. I have chosen to collapse the last two.

Hounds of Arrochar

Dedicated to Gilchrist, Ilsa, Boaz, Ozymandius, O’ber and Fengil

By THLaird Colyne Stewart, March AS 49 (2015)

In northern hall the hounds all sit,

Sleek bodies fit for dogs who hunt,

When with a grunt released they fly,

Give voice to cry as swift they go,

The whippets flow through bright green grass,

While greyhounds pass and kennets bay,

Lymers find the prey, elusive,

And then, conclusive, end the game;

So heed their lord and dame, head home,

No more to roam and on floor sprawl.

Written using the Irish poetic device known as Aicill. Aicill is a rhyme scheme where the final word of one line rhymes with an internal word in the next rhyme.

For instance:

He was a man both strong and tall,

Who, come the fall, would travel round

To hallowed ground, and there kneel down

etc

I again settled on iambic octometer for my meter (for some reason that feels most natural to me), and did not use a traditional poetic stanza form. I instead wrote single ceathramhain (lines of verse) until I felt the tale had been told (in this case a scene of all the dogs who are part of House Arrochar chasing something through a field). I also chose to write it as a single rann (stanza). Technically I also used the device known as dúnadh (meaning “conclusion”) where the poem begins and ends on the same sound. This sound can be the whole word, a syllable, or just a letter. This poem begins and ends with the letter L, so it could be considered to be using dúnadh. Another device I made use of a on a few ceathramhain was uaim, which is the use of alliteration in early Irish poetry. With uaim only unaccented syllables should come between alliterated words (so “hall the hounds,” “fit for,” “when with,” “green grass,” and “head home” all alliterate correctly).

Kennets were a type of dog used as small hunting hounds, while lymers were dogs used to locate game.

For more information on dogs in period, check out:

Walker-Meikle, Kathleen. Medieval Dogs. British Library, 2013.