Saturday, June 13, 2009

Wulfric Thjostolfsson - Fighter Poem - Drottkvaiett

Wulfric Thjostolfsson
fallen in Fall Crown Tourney, A.S. XXXII

(Drottkvaiett)

Far from frigid waters - / farthest Northern shorelands
Wulfric went a-Viking / wanderlust his muster

Exiled from the Aesir / as his comrades cast off
(Stalwart Wulfric stumbled) / stranded and abandoned

Gone his glad-heart gore-friends / gold-encumbered boldly
Sundered from his shipmates / sword-brothers missed sorely

Now he's come to Caid / coursing Southern shorelines
Wilted by the weather / (warmer than his far-home)

Wulfric won't be daunted / won't be found a-wanting
What's a little weather / when the sun's ascendant?

Gold and silver glitter, / glimpsed from any angle
Bright and bold the colors / brandished from the standards

Treasure-trove a-tempting / trial-by-combat vying
Come Caid's combatants / called to face all comers

Wulfric's heart is willing / weapons fit for reaping
Facing fields of fighters / fortified for war-games

Challenges a champion: / Kirk of castle-working
Guile and cunning Guy has / great and mighty fighter

Besting one the other / battle-joined combatants
Wulfric - not the winner / wrests his way to safety

Crown and kingdom craving / casts the dice, decisive
Norns his fortune knowing: / none find Wulfric wanting

Freshened, Wulfric faces / fiercesome Dante, fearless
Wielding mighty weapons / warriors clash for glory

Field of blood o'er-flowing - / fresh meat for the gore-birds
When the winds blow warmly / Wulfric lies a-dying

One stands by a-weeping, / winsome lass, sweet Lassar
Heart-wrung now and hollow / heavy-burdened, hurting

Wulfric tried to win her / wonders without number -
What he sought to woo her / wrought her only sorrow

Southland sun descending / singles out a kingling,
Slantwise shade enshadows / Shroud-clad warrior, shore-bound

-- Mistress Philippa Llewelyn Schuyler

...is a 15th century Burgundian wool merchant who thinks she's a 10th century Viking weaver.

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