The 100 Year Fever

[Delta40]

I hear him moan, threshing his soul,
his temple sodden by delirium.
I'm caughte in a trappe!
Thy Sovereyn's wordes weren wyse, nat this tyme.
The sheltered livestock bleat from the corner of the hut
as if all that he blurts binds us in our stormstruck hour.
I faught in chivalrye trouthe and honour.
My heart bleeds for the treachery which torments him,
the flax poultice of black bread and oats his coolest comfort.
Justyce mighte a man infect
but warre is nat lene, tis longe. Tis so longe.
Cloaked in misery, I kneel on the rough floor.
As he weeps and wilts, I pray for his deliverance,
yet still he grapples with his baneful ghost.
They left me wyde and battiled slayn
Such vileinyes!
His fever reaches its pitch
and he writhes on a bed of softened straw and leaves,
snared only by his King's ruthless feuding.
In warre hem was swifte to flighte.
I tell ye nat wyn of hem with corage.
Ne'er! Ne'er will I fighte agin.
I quench his anguish with draughts of ale and tears
until the evil which seized his goodness ruptures.
At cockcrow, he lays still, weak and shallow as a sickly child,
mercifully restored unto me.

[MystyrMystyry]

I get this is the 100 Years War to which you refer? And a fever and a ghost!

Not sure about the spelling of battiled and vileinyes, especially so close together, but I haven't done a Goggle on them

Most intriguing Delta

[Delta40]

those words are ME spelling and yes it is about the 100 years war and a returned soldier's post trauma.

[MystyrMystyry]

Research through my dictionary of Ye Olde Englishe proves that yes, it is definitely YOU spelling

So what inspired this one? A dream?

[Delta40]

mental health conditon

aka

sikely conduscion

OE and ME are not the same and neither are they consistent given that at this time the language was evolving from Anglo-Norman

[MystyrMystyry]

Spelling wasn't fixed during ME - even Shakespeare spelt his name four different ways, and my Oxford Complete makes no mention of these two variants - what was your source?

Sorry to hear about you sikely conduscion

[Delta40]

Canterbury Tales

[MystyrMystyry]

Right - then vilainyes modern equivalent is villainy, not villains apparently, and battile seems to be a pure Chaucerism (that is, predominant use in writing)

Learn something new (and old) every day...

:)

[Delta40]

Edited.

[Delta40]

I'm bumping this because Jeez it took some work to compose and I would like more feedback (hope nobody minds :-)

[Jerrybaldy]

feedback is feedback. I am not a fan of historical or olde english (or scottish) I love to read what I can relate to, your recent posting with the head in the oven I thought was amazing but this reads like home work. I canne relate.

[Twota]

hmmmmmmm :D it took me quite a while to approach the fully understanding, but now that I understand it, i really like it and i can feel the distress for sure. And i really like the desperation and love in : As he weeps and wilts, I pray for his deliverance,
yet still he grapples with his baneful ghost.

may be you 'll get famous before me after all :D

[Delta40]

lol. You make me laugh Twota. Your posts always seem to be bouncy and upbeat. Thanks for taking the time to read the poem.

[hillwalker]

I love the term 'stormstruck hour' - but struggled to understand why you needed to include the narrator as a character in the poem.

Given that we hear the soldier's torment through his own words I found the nursemaid (or wife?) at his side rather a distraction. It read like 2 separate poems jigsawed together - giving a two-way conversation where both speak to the reader but neither communicate with each other.

H

[PrinceMyshkin]

I on the contrary (cf Hil, above) did like the juxtaposition of the two speakers, albeit I didn't fully understand their relationship. I commend the energy in this. You have the ability to enter fully into other ages, characters and states of mind.

(I'd replace "lays" in the penultimate line with lies)

[Delta40]

Thanks Hill and Prince

I don't see anyone else posting poetry in Middle English on Lit-Net. In the past I have read the confusion from members when I post entirely in ME and the necessity of providing a translation underneath such a work is absolutely, without doubt a devaluation of my effort - rather like having to explain what a poem is about to people who don't understand - or a dumbed down version. I'm not going to do that again. I wrote in these two voices because I wanted to, felt it was appropriate and I like a challenge. I enjoyed writing this poem very much.