Bardic Arts

"Hugh the Undecided"
by
Bela of Eastmarch

To Hugh, the heavy of hand in battle,
by his own self only called 'Undecided',
the griffen-guarded in goodly armor,
let stand now a stave of strife-won honor.

For bold as a bear he bore his weapons
all forth on the field to fight the mighty;
and griffin-grimly he gave what was given
of battering blows on bodies of men.

Thus often it is that eager fighters,
unknown because new, win names of honor.
Let Hugh's ride high as a hawk in heaven.
He fell, but in fighting fearless always.

"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

The West Kingdom History Website was created by and is maintained by Hirsch von Henford (mka Ken Mayer).