Bride to Be (part three)
Bride to Be
(three)
Why, he said to me
When guests arrive and all the household
Join the feast
And the women, those
unplighted, keep them to their couch, apart
You with your eyes demure
Sipping long from a single cup
Watching, under lashes, mantling
Changeable, like the leaves
Lifted to silver by a breeze
I know by this you think on things
Think
For me, upon a riddle
And said he Daughter then
My name
In a soft and certain way
On my pommel crept the merlin, catching with her toes
For dismounted, dared bend near him
I…to see his knifepoint map upon the ground
“Say that I raise an army…in this your father pledges me
To stay his hand, not interfere
And my brothers…I mean those men loyal to our house
Will come at my command…here”
He took my elbow, as to steady me
“Have you ever seen the lay of the land
That you would know one neighbor from another…thus”
I saw what he had drawn
Bride to Be
Bride to Be (part four)
Explication
(2018, Stephanie Foster)