20171130.0430

Erdewyn knew that full well,
Had no need her own strength to tell--
She felt not the need
To tout her own deeds--
But that meant not she was less fell.

20171129.0430

It boots enough us to defend
When threats would seek us to end--
To go and attack
Will breed but more wrack
And ruin--let’s not else pretend.

20171128.0430

For what need have we for great force
Who guide our lives along the course
That works to harm none
Who stride under sun
And avoid many conflicts’ source?

20171127.0430

Too often, we only will praise
Those who will spend all their days
In making folk die;
We cast not our eyes
Approving on healthier ways.

20171126.0430

Even her teacher had said
Fortune kept him from the dead
When out on campaign.
That she would refrain
From going out showed a good head.

20171125.0430

Yet it would be falsehood to say
That because she never spent a day
Marching at command
The weight of her hand
Was less than a soldier's would weigh.

20171124.0430

She sought not to go off to war,
But fought battles at her front door
Or out on the street
When some would her meet
With words and deeds fitting a boor.

20171123.0430

At length, all the threats were undone.
The many were felled by the one.
Erdewyn sighed
And she went back inside
As overhead shone the sun.

20171122.0430

One after another they fell,
Their shouts and screams sounding the knell
For their raw aggression
In rapid progression--
The details are gruesome to tell.

20171121.0430

Toward one, she moved in great haste
That yet not a motion did waste;
She struck and she turned
In the way she had learned--
And none knew what they in her faced.

20171120.0430

She came from her house in a rage
Not seen for many a full age--
Darkness descended,
It seemed, as she ended
The threat posed by hoped-for outrage.

20171119.0430

Below it, the leg badly bent,
And many could tell it was rent
While still left in place--
It was but a taste
Of where Erdewyn the rest sent.

20171118.0430

One was unable to flee
But was thrown out for all to see.
He landed and screamed--
More shrieking, it seemed--
And clutched with both hands at his knee.

20171117.0430

And so in a rush they approached
The door that was shut; they it broached.
In went the men,
But they came out again,
Fleeing as if in race coached.

20171116.0430

The knight thusly thwarted in rut,
And in his face door sharply shut,
Those in his employ
Thought force to deploy
And Erdewyn they thought to cut.

20171115.0430

With sickening sounds, tendons tore,
And the knight knew he'd no more
Take up a sword
In service of lord.
Erdewyn shut then her door.

20171114.0430

Then, swiftly, she twisted again
And the knight's grabbing did end--
The bones of his hand
Seemed ground into sand,
And sinews did over-extend.

20171113.0430

Her hand found the knight's in a rush.
She twisted and kicked, swift to crush
The armor he wore,
And her motion bore
Him forward, his hand from her brushed.

20171112.0749

Erdewyn sighed, shook her head,
And, knowing where matters had led,
Did what ought to be done,
As assault had begun,
And proceeded as she had said.

20171111.0430

Resuming...

The knight gripped yet harder as she
Said her words; he did not see
The peril he faced
When he had placed
His hand and did not soon flee.

20171110.0430

A bit of an interruption--for a good reason

Today marks the anniversary of my father's birth.

I am fond of the man, so I mark the occasion.

Happy birthday, Pop!

20171109.0430

A wiser man would his hand drop.
A truly wise man would not cop
To do such a thing--
But the knight did then fling
His sense away; he did not stop.

20171108.0430

She looked at him with eyes gone cold--
And he felt himself grow less bold--
And in similar voice
Gave him a choice:
Release now or ne'er again hold.

20171107.0430

He reached out, and on her, his hand
With more force than reason did land.
Just once did the knight
Grip Erdewyn tight--
And she would not let that thing stand.

20171106.0430

Erdewyn said "No" again,
And louder, thus hoping to end
The talk of the two,
But the other who
Was there to hear not did pretend.

20171105.0430

Erdewyn said to him "No"
And turned to back to her home go,
But he interposed
And obscenely proposed
To do something no records show.

20171104.0430

The knight found his way to her then,
And to prevail upon her he began,
Swearing to her silks
And things of that ilk
If she with him would that day end.

20171103.0430

Some townsfolk then hurriedly dressed,
Thinking the knight to impress,
But Edrewyn sighed
And the display denied--
Although she too soon would be pressed.

20171102.0430

One day, such a man came to town--
And Oðoæster was not 'round--
And wanted to see
What would come out, for he
Thought himself to have some fair renown.

20171101.0430

And, lest it be said or be thought
That she only yokels had fought
And a bully been,
Words can quite well begin
To speak of the knight that her sought.