Bards Duel, Beltane Poem

Dear Blacky,

At the beginning of my Celtic Spirit Wheel class every day we take role by doing a Bard's Duel.  We cover the topic of the day and each person has to say what that topic means to them.  It starts out something like "Who is the Dagda?  Not hard to tell..." and then you say what the Dagda represents to you.  Some people get quite poetic, with rhyming and moving about, and some people just say a line or two.  There is no judging for your overly-flowery prose, just like there is no judging the one guy who never shuts up and never stays on topic.

For Beltane we mixed it up.  Each person was allowed to pick one of the types of Bardic Arts (we're studying the South quarter and all that it represents in the Spirit Wheel belonging to the Celts) and either write or perform or find something related to Beltane, the Celts or the Sidh.  I chose a poem from my childhood regarding the sidh (elves) of Celtic lore.

I read this poem to my Celtic Spirit Wheel class on Beltane and I got thunderous applause.  Believe it or not I used to have the entire thing memorized.

Elves, by D.J. Conway

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By the fern brake, deep and shady,
There I met an elfin lady.
Dressed in cobweb silk and flowers,
There she whiled away the hours,
    Waiting until dark.

On the soft green moss beside her,
Lay a baby wrapped in eider.
Skin so fair and hair like midnight,
The lady watched the coming twilight,
    Waiting till 'twas dark.

Silently, I sat beside her,
Hoping for some words to gather
In my numb and starled mind.
Said the lady, "You're most kind
    to wait with me till dark."

"Are you lost?" I asked lady.
"Is this your home, this fern barke shady"
Will others come by star and moon?"
She only smiled and began to croon
    To the elfin child.

The baby slept. The lady told me
Deep magic of the Earth and Sea.
Spells she whispered, strong and old.
"Use them well," she said. "Be bold
    when spelling in the night."

"Can I work these?" The lady smiled
Gathered up her sleeping child.
"Oh yes," she answered, "Tis a boon
For waiting with me till the Moon
    Slips up the sky."

Thinking deep, I sat beside her,
Keeping watch.  I heard the rider
Coming through the fern brake shady.
"Are you there, my lovely lady?"
    Called an elfin voice.

An elfin lord, his clothes all viney,
Armed with sword and dagger shiny,
Rode his horse into the fern brake.
Then my heart began to quake
    On seeing his dark eyes.

Twilight gathered; birds were still.
The Moon came up above the hill.
Suddenly I felt alone.
"Have no fear, for your have sown
    Good friendship."

The lady smiled and raised her hand.
Upon her brow a shining band
Glistened by the light of the Moon.
"Would you to give forth a boon?"
    She asked her lord.


"For here is a friend, a watcher bold."
"But they are enemies of old,"
The elf lord answered.
    "No," she said,
"But guarded us in this fern bed."
    He smiled.

"So there are some who wish us well."
His voice was like a distant bell.
A ring he took from off his hand.
"This will tune you to the land
    and magic."

Its stone was pale, just like the Moon.
The air was filled with eldritch tune,
As they mounted, lord and lady,
Rode off through the fern brake shady,
    I stood alone.

People say elves are not there.
But I have heard their voices fair,
When I sit down in the brake.
Magic spells I've learned to make
    All from the lady.

Elf lord's ring is on my hand
To help with magic from the land.
Sometimes I talk with lord and lady
In the fern brake, deep and shady,
    Secretly.

Is there magic? For me 'tis so.
For when the sun is sinking low,
I feel Earth's power within my heart
And know that I shall never part
    From the lord and lady

Salutations,

Sesh