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a collection of literature from poets, bards, songwriters, and skalds in the SCA

Sonette X

olivier's picture
olivier
Poem (Canso): 

In Hibern field down with my love I lie
And on an oaten reed sweet musick play,
Enchaunting fauna all about the way
To dance and sing, all for her honor hye.
Might Phoebus from here never turn his eye,
Granting to us lovers eternal day
That for naught else would I, nor any, pay.
Favorèd sun, let season never die!
Like fair Persephon hath our green no end,
Though time will harvest all, but give again.
Before her smile I virtue easy tend,
And seek but more light to more grace attain.
While summer last, my dame the world doth serve,
And even this is less than she deserve.

Documentation / Explanation (Razo): 

1. Hibern field: While the story of Orpheus is definitely Greek, I took some liberties (as noted early on) to fit the story to my inspiration for the sequence. She has a Scottish persona, so suddenly the lovers are in the British Isles rather than on the Mediterranean coast.
2. oaten reed: Colin Cloute in Spenser’s Shepheardes Calender describes Pan as using an ‘oaten pype’ in “Januarye.” Spenser gives Colin himself an ‘oaten pipe’ (also called an ‘oaten reed’) to play at the pastoral beginning of Colin Clouts Come Home Againe. The latter I especially tried to imitate for this specific sonnet.
3. fauna: animals, but also a nod to mythical fauns (satyrs) who, like Pan, play pipes.
9. Persephon: Persephone, the Greek goddess who was kidnapped by Hades and made Queen of the Underworld during the winter months. The line is ironic because it foreshadows Hades’ ‘kidnap’ of Eurydice in similarity to Persephone’s situation.