• Week 50 • Saraband •

The Morrigan

blackbirds roil, specks in dual world white
henge ghosts age the dawn, drink the fog
where hag necked cliffs thwart the hills, bite
space above weeping blue. Alba’s there
stippled at the lip of the world.
On shaggy nags, shaggy lads share
tales, hang barley breath on curled

autumn air, staunching dread Queen dread
with platted posies of heather
tight in boys’ hands and coloured thread
all the while the morrigan there
below shreds petals, cups the foam
entreats clumsy feet, spreads her hair
and hums a durge that sounds like home.

The saraband form is a two-stanza Asian ‘dance’ (the first stanza of 3 and the second of 4 lines although in every example I’ve come across these two stanzas have all been put together as one stanza). There are 8 syllables per line and the rhyme scheme is as follows:

xxxxxxxa
xxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxa
(————-)
xxxxxxxb
xxxxxxxc
xxxxxxxb
xxxxxxxc