Bardic Arts

"Douglas Longshanks"
by
Johann Heinrich Michael Simon von Wernigerode

Long legs striding onto the field,
Strong arm striking, foemen yield:
Drops of rain, drops of blood.
Swift his sword arm, storm it brings.
His voice like wind in triumph sings.
Drops of rain, drops of blood.
His eyes are hawks', bloody his hands,
Sudden thunderstrokes he lands.
Drops of rain, drops of blood.
Sunlight slicing like his sword;
Death defying, Riesling's lord.
Drops of rain, drops of blood.
Drops of blood, drops of rain,
Douglas will not fight again.
Drops of rain, drops of blood,
Now the field of honor flood;
Now he lies in oaken wood.
Drops of rain, drops of blood.

From a collection of fighter poems titled Valhalla. This is from the section titled: "Valhalla".

"Long ago, the West Kingdom bards decided to produce poems for every fighter in each crown lists. We carried this on for several years before finally faltering. A large number of bards were required, since the lists kept getting larger and eventually the effort involved wore us out. Even so, we published two volumes of the best of the fighter poems. I was president of the college of bards of the West Kingdom at that time and I regard that effort as perhaps the most satisfying thing I ever achieved in the SCA." -- Steven MacEanruig

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