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Thoughts From Arturius
Mad Monk Musings...
I am Arturius!
I come upon the English!
Leave these shores
to the wine-knights
and Danish whores!
I grab you Barbarians
and carve out
a Nation
from the ashes
left in burning piles
From vile
Romans
In my task
I rely on bards
to weave a story
true
Or my truth my version
lost in a
thousand years
of subversion
The 'Saxon Shore'
repels all comers
to no avail
they slink upon our
English edges
Assimilating
pillaging
raping
the usual fare for
nation
building
I'm picking up the slack
Roman reins
Oh Honorius!
Why does it always
come down to funds?
Tightfisted overstretched
rotting empires
de-colonizing
Now Germanic hordes
the new flotsam
flooding forth
I halt hard
I say "dux bellorum"
to all the Bedlam
and instruct my
bards
to weave the cloak
of legend
No true battles
How could I be
fighting foes
at the same time?
In different centuries?
But I've made my mark
I'm a filigree
truth fragment
re-told in draughty
dank abbeys
and low battlements
Arturius, heroic Christian
Warrior!
Ambrosius who was of the
nobel purple cloth
a Roman shard still remembered
in English place naming
Here Amesbury!
'the fortress of Ambrosius'
home for figments
and kernels
and myths.
Comments
wesley snow
Thu, 2014-02-20 17:35
This has all the things I don't like.
Free verse, no rhyme. Short sentences.
Why oh why, then do I love it!
History? Maybe. Big words. That must be it.
I love this thing. I think I may have to archive it that I may read it in my dotage... tomorrow.
At least you had the dignity to misspell a word I could correct:
chrisitian (Christian)
Ah, to be useful.
Seriously Betty, this is awesome, just awesome. I love it.
W. H. Snow
A poet is a nightingale, who sits in darkness and sings to cheer its own solitude with sweet sounds. Percy Bysshe Shelley
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BettyBuff
Sat, 2017-04-22 06:51
VOX version
http://vocaroo.com/i/s0V4ILrhaGkd
BettyBuff
Fri, 2014-02-21 03:35
LOL
Oh to be useful...
'No rhyme"???
There is assonance & half rhyme and irregular rhyme all through this. I also made darn sure I added in alliteration. (Sulking now)
I knew you'd like it though, it's from my series of the Mad Monk of Monmouth musings...remember I did 'Thoughts from Guinevere' last year? I'm planning more as I love Anglo-Saxon history and my dad is Welsh and my mother a Scot. The celtic mongrel in me laps up all the myths & legends of where we 'English' came from!
Thanks for reading it.
Ells x
wesley snow
Sat, 2017-04-22 17:39
You're right.
I was looking for traditional rhyme and missed all the things I love about poetry. This deserves multiple readings. What a marvelous thing you have constructed. I have no better words.
And no I have not read the other poem. I have been gone for over a year recovering from bypass surgery. However, I WILL read it. I will read it.
W. H. Snow
A poet is a nightingale, who sits in darkness and sings to cheer its own solitude with sweet sounds. Percy Bysshe Shelley
Learn how, teach others.
The NeoPoet Mentor Program
http://www.neopoet.com/mentor/about
Esker
Fri, 2014-02-21 05:22
i had no history
the blue eyes were scot but even of this im not sure and not caring
and they were from the viking shore landing parties
i have a welsh friend i think....intelligent ...meet at the coffee house
now and then..
with the other odd bodkins..
i love this...read through it enthralled also
love the use of dank...
finally a land here of people that still use
language as a gauge
history and symbolism
and yes...never thought of bards
as the free pres of its time
the royals of the north clans
funded much and hadrian built his
wall and sometimes
it was just the one woman one man
whom stood together
were organzied by a galvanic
mythical magical persona
to push back the pushing
...
its happening now
thank you for this poem
it has enlivened
and entranced
BettyBuff
Fri, 2014-02-21 08:05
Awww..
Thanks...yes, we Celts are all over the world, especially in the Americas!
To be honest, all the 'true blood' englishmen/women are really a Heinz 57 variety gene pool from all over the world...saxon, germanic, moors, normans, romans, europeans, viking, scandinavian...later african, indian,indo-chinese...
However, when I travel up to the North of Britain, I feel an ancestral "pull"...like I KNOW places and have visited before. It was very 'tribal' in my house growing up when we watched the game of Rugby. My sister & I doggedly supported the white rose of England through the hurling insults of both parents! LOL
Glad it entranced you.
Ells x
wesley snow
Fri, 2014-02-21 11:21
Yes, I saw the rhymes,
but I was looking for a reason to complain, so you were duly impressed that I loved it. Not liked. It was, in a word, fun. Just a rollicking good time.
W. H. Snow
A poet is a nightingale, who sits in darkness and sings to cheer its own solitude with sweet sounds. Percy Bysshe Shelley
Learn how, teach others.
The NeoPoet Mentor Program
http://www.neopoet.com/mentor/about
Roscoe Lane
Sat, 2014-02-22 04:49
I wish,
I wish you two lovers (Wes And Betty).... of poetry i mean. LOL, sounds like a lovers tiff, only joking. Somethings are just meant to be enjoyed, and this is certainly one of those. Nice writing Love Roscoe..
Roscoe Llane,
Religion will rip your faith off, and return
for the mask of disbelief that's left.
emeka ozurumba
Sat, 2014-02-22 05:50
albion arose
hadde meeke yaf varsities yeve versatile
weirdelf
Sun, 2014-02-23 15:58
Wow, there are a lot of ways to read this
I hope you like this one. Love the poem.
https://soundcloud.com/jess-tapper/thoughts-from-arturius-by/s-hTd61
cheers,
Jess
A new workshop on the most important element of poetry-
'Rhythm and Meter in Poetry'
https://www.neopoet.com/workshop/rhythm-and-meter-poetry
raj
Sun, 2014-02-23 16:22
Well, well, well!
I am not a student of history but your write walked me through the centuries, eras.prophesies & dialects and at the end left me wondering if it is true that history repeats itself. I must add that to me your presentation style is refreshingly different and innovative...
Regards,
raj (sublime_ocean)
Dalton
Sun, 2014-03-02 13:28
Love it
Love this poem. I've printed it out (hope you don't mind) so I can read it over again at my leasure. Will get back to you with a more fitting comment in the by and by.
John