First of May

A poem about the legends of the Faerie Ring.

First of May

 

Quite early on the first of May,

Upon my horse of dapple-gray,

We rode out quickly ‘fore the dawn,

Towards the woods across the lawn,

 

We hadn’t travelled far within,

When suddenly we heard a din,

The sounds of music, fair and gay,

Of laughter and the sounds of play,

 

Joyful tunes that spoke of spring,

Found within a toadstool ring,

So forward quickly at a trot,

The woodland party we now sought,

 

In a clearing green and fair,

Here they frolicked without care,

A lively folk so fair of face,

Cavorting at a dizzy pace,

 

From my steed I did alight,

Dancing - morning until night,

Within the ring I did consort,

Amongst the dancing Seelie Court,

 

Of such a day I never knew,

So full of merrymakers true,

We laughed and jumped and leaped in air,

I never wished to leave from there,

 

At the end of Beltane Day,

Vanish did my friends of Fae,

My mind restored, I faced my fears,

I’d danced within the ring for years,

 

Outside the ring, I looked at dawn,

Without my horse, for he was gone,

My clothes were tattered, I had aged,

For Seven years, I had engaged,

 

Lost within the faerie dance,

Invisible and lost in trance,

So now I keep myself away,

From Faerie Rings on First of May

Author's Note

Inspired from old Celtic stories of the Seelie Court.

Reviews

[Elina]

This is lovely, Eddie! I always enjoy narrative poems, and on top of that, it was about the Celtic Fae? It doesn't get much better than that. Haha!

[Eddie Davis]

I've been fascinated by the Sidhe since reading "Faeries" by Brian Frond and Alan Lee as a teenager, and this was amplified by also reading "The Dreamstone" and 'The Tree of Swords and Jewels' by C.J. Cherryh.

[Rachelle]

There is actually a scientific explanation for the fairy ring but I will be digressing from the poetry and the magic once I start talking about spores, sporangia and hyphae. :) I am chucking the science girl out of me as I say that this is a lovely read! :D

[Eddie Davis]

Thank you, I was inspired to write this upon reading old Celtic tales about the Daoine Sidhe (pronounced THEENA SHEE) (which means "People of the Mounds"), who are said to have feasts and dances on specific nights such as Midsummer's NIght (as Shakespeare wrote about) and May 1st (Beltane).

[Rachelle]

That's interesting! Pre-colonial practices in my home country would probably have the same to celebrate harvest time as we only have two seasons - wet and dry.

[Dhaye]

Wow! I like your narrative poetry, Eddie. Each line can be Octosyllables.

Could be perfect in meter if you will consider altering these lines:
"Made towards the woods across the lawn," (could stand without MADE)
and

"Found within in a toadstool ring" (could stand without IN because there's already the word within but only 7 syllables...)

Still, a fantastic poem for me. I enjoyed the read. Keep it up!

[Eddie Davis]

Thanks, Dhaye, this was the first rhyming poem I have ever written where I was counting syllables as I was writing. I think I managed to keep all of the lines either 7 or 8 syllables. I will make those changes, you are quite right with them.

[Dhaye]

You're welcome. Octosyllable is a perfect meter when you recite it. There's perfect flow in it. And I am just suggesting because it could be perfect and flawless. I can see here that you're really a novelist because that's an outstanding narrative poem. It just happened that I really read it aloud because of the nice rhythm. LOL

[Eddie Davis]

Thank you, I may try working on it to make sure all of the verses are 8 syllables. I have you to thank for the understanding of the importance of syllables in poems. As crazy as it probably sounds, I just went by how it 'sounded' to me before hand. I noticed that 7 or 8 syllables does seem to flow much better.