Banfili

[Delta40]

Call me Banfili for this is how I am now known.
I have the passage to the future
Imbas Forosna!
Fear the road where I can snap your marrow
Teinm Laeda!
Heed my divine chants
Dichetal di Chennaib!

Banfili prophetess I am Queen Medb
You must tell me the bloody fate of the Ulstermen
while the Gobae forges weapons of death at my command.
ben sues srutha coctha for cula
That is I and you will have one screpul of silver.

So, you be the woman who will turn the tide of war?
Let me chew on the raw flesh of a pig
as an offering to the mystic idols.
Blessed pagan mythology permeate the forest
that I Banfili will lapse into a trance.

I see much bloodshed
Havoc will wreak through your army.
The kings coffers have unknown depths
Yet still it will not be enough to save him.

Rudrach monotony
You are no more than a bard who stands
Like the heron by the stream.
You are not Banfili but diupartach, a fraud.

Then seek Uallach, daughter of Munnechan
But give me my screpul of silver before you leave
I will not. I know rith ra canann and you deserve less than a milch cow.
Curmal, whip this sorcerer with your stick.

Bretha Crechine will visit his wrath upon you
before the moon is full.
He is the only extent of my law.
I see women from the otherworld
inherit your Ri Ruirech's dibad
and you will die at the hands of Ulstermen.

Nobody shall harm my Supreme King.
I have no time for do druthaib lunatics.
Let us leave the insane to their magic.
It is already written in the Wisdom Texts my Queen
I Banfili spit on these flames as you ride to your doom.

Fedelm stokes the ashes of her incantations
And blows them in clouds across the land.
There the tuath tribes choke as they learn
the dreaded fate of Queen Medb

[Hawkman]

It is a matter of some regret to me that I just don't have enough Irish (or knowlege of Irish history and folk tales) to properly appreciate this. It would be nice to be familiar with the references too. Care to provide a link to put your poem in context? I take it using coloured fonts was as close as you could get to illuminating the text!

As for the poem itself I think it's a bit of a tour de force. Even without a complete understanding, its rhythms and pace are highly evocative and suggestive of an ancient tale of high adventure and tragedy.

[osho]

I too found the poem indecipherable though I sensed a lot of profundity and beauty in them. This kind of legendary poetry necessitates a little background of its history and religion. I am unfamiliar with the legends and we readers always enjoying your beautiful poems will be happy if you graciously illuminate on the background of this.

[Delta40]

I don't have a great deal of knowledge either but I did purchase a book called Early Irish Law at uni yesterday which focuses on the 6th & 7th centuries. I read some of the laws such as Bretha Crolige, where a person who illegally injures another must arrange for his care till he has recovered but then came across the laws for poets, who it seems until Christianity came along were held in high esteem and often appointed to protect the king as well as being involved in compiling and practising law. There were particular paths to be crossed (listed in the first stanza) before one could be considered a fili (chief poet) banfili (a female poet) although these were admittedly few.

I read an example about Queen Medb who although married, often fought in wars and consulted a banfili callded Feldem as chief poets were believed to have prophetic powers and were paid quite handsomely. Bards were considered the most inferior of poets and their value was much less (a milch cow rather than a screpul of silver or a cumel, an ounce of silver)

Feldem foresaw the Queen would lose the battle with the Ulstermen but the Queen chose not to believe her and berated her by calling her a bard and referring to such things as sorcery.

Ri Ruirech's dibad is the Supreme King's property
ben sues srutha coctha for cula is she who can turn the stream of war
rith ra canann - the full extent of the law.

I tried to compose it so that the words eg do druthaib (insane, lunatic) diupartach (fraudulent) were alongside the old Irish term.

Uallach, daughter of Munnechan was known as the woman poet of Ireland.

The rest was my imagination. I used different font because the poem is mainly dialogue between the two women.

[PrinceMyshkin]

I second all that Hawkman said in response, both his admiration and his regret that he doesn't know more Irish Gaelic. "More'? heck, the only word I know is "slanche," and I don't even drink!

I'm astounded at the wide range of your inventiveness.

[Delta40]

Thanks Prince. I didn't expect too many reviews of this and it took me a few cups of coffee before I knew what shape it was taking.

[firefangled]

You do have an amazing imagination and capability with poetic story telling. I didn't understand half of this, but ejoyed it for your imagination.