Arthurian Poems Ii

Note: the "dd" in Welsh names is pronounced "th." Merlyn's Birth by Michael R. Burch I was born in Gwynedd, or not born, as some men claim, and the Zephyr of Caer Myrrdin gave me my name. My father was Madog Morfeyn but our eyes were never the same, nor our skin, nor our hair; for his were dark, dark —as our people’s are— and mine were fairer than fair. The night of my birth, the Zephyr carved of white stone a rune; and the ringed stars of Ursa Major outshone the cool pale moon; and my grandfather, Morydd, the seer saw wheeling, a-gyre in the sky, a falcon with terrible yellow-gold eyes when falcons never fly. *** Merlyn’s First Prophecy by Michael R. Burch Vortigern commanded a tower to be built upon Snowden, but the earth would churn and within an hour its walls would cave in. Then his druid said only the virginal blood of a fatherless son, recently shed, would ever hold the foundation. “There is, in Caer Myrrdin, a faery lad, a son with no father; his name is Merlyn, and with his blood you would have your tower.” So Vortigern had them bring the boy, the child of the demon, and, taciturn and without joy, looked out over Snowden. “To kill a child brings little praise, but many tears.” Then the mountain slopes rang with the brays of Merlyn’s jeers. “Pure poppycock! You fumble and bumble and heed a fool. At the base of the rock the foundations crumble into a pool!” When they drained the pool, two dragons arose, one white and one red, and since the old druid was blowing his nose, young Merlyn said: “Vortigern is the white, Ambrosius the red; now, watch, indeed.” Then the former died as the latter fed and Vortigern peed. *** The Wild Hunt by Michael R. Burch Near Devon, the hunters appear in the sky with Artur and Bedwyr sounding the call; and the others, laughing, go dashing by. They only appear when the moon is full: Valerin, the King of the Tangled Wood, and Valynt, the goodly King of Wales, Gawain and Owain and the hearty men who live on in many minstrels’ tales. They seek the white stag on a moonlit moor, or Torc Triath, the fabled boar, or Ysgithyrwyn, or Twrch Trwyth, the other mighty boars of myth. They appear, sometimes, on Halloween to chase the moon across the green, then fade into the shadowed hills where memory alone prevails. Keywords/Tags: King Arthur, Arthurian, romance, romantic, myth, literature, Merlin, magic, wisdom, round table, knights, England, Uther Pendragon, fairy, fey, dragon, dragons, Lancelot, Gawain