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Stories / Stories / Kate "Silverfish" Jennings / Text 4 of 9 / Songs of the Downtrodden 4 (poem)

"Songs of the Downtrodden 4 (poem)" by Kate "Silverfish" Jennings

SF&F Picture 4 out of 9 by Kate "Silverfish" Jennings

Yet another one about the pending return of the king-in-exile.

Tsedek and yellow goblin-bush
Are the crown for our king.
Grass-green his coat
And his shirt blue sky.
His boots tread the earth
In lands far from here,
In the northern lands
Where no tsedek grows.

Hiraam and his army
Say there is no king.
Tavena turned traitor
Says the king is dead
In the deep winter
When the tsedek-blossoms shine
The ice-wind says
The king is coming home.

There is no shame,
Whatever fools say
In working the soil
And in calloused hands.
He himself has laboured
In foreign fields,
And a king is no better
Than the people who crown him.

In spring or in summer
The waves will bring him southwards.
In summer or in fall
He will ride through the ranges.
Make the land ready
You who command ox and plough.
Weave tsedek and yellow goblin-bush
Into the true king's crown.

←- Songs of the Downtrodden 3 (poem) | Evening, for Ella (poem) -→

Date	Name	Comment
21 Mar 2003	Charles Mills Trowbridge	Loading... It is nice to see someone who adnolodges that there is a pesentry in the lands of fantasy. goblin bush, an excelent name for a plant (who knows, maybe it's real and i'm just the fool?). There was a revival of UK folk music a couple of decades ago, I remember I came windfall into an album by "A Parcel of Rogues". You should try and hunt them down (electronically mebee), I think you'd like them alot. No real comments for this one, I like it alot how it is. Kate "Silverfish" Jennings replies: "I'll definitely have a look for that. Sounds like my sort of music. Goblin bush may be a real plant, but as far as I know it isn't - I was sitting next to the river one day making up evocative plant names."
22 Sep 2004	Michiel 'Blood Raven' van Lierop	Loading... I like this one really well, it has a clear rythm and you can easily think of a passing bard singing it. there's just two sentences who don't seem to fit into the general rythm, "Than the people who crown him." and "You who command ox and plough". But then again I couldn't think of a way to make them shorter either... I think I like this best for now, but I dunno how much of these Downtrodden poems are coming. I'm going from 1 up, but I didn't check your main page to see ^^' Kate "Silverfish" Jennings replies: "That's the feeling I wanted to get - something fairly free and easy but expressing popular sentiment. I think I wrote this after a dose of Scottish folk music.I think at those points I just decide it is a chant or something to be declaimed! Then I switch back to song It does need to be tidied up. It could perhaps be "Than those who crown him", and "You who command oxen" or "You who walk ploughed lands" or "Ploughmen and farmers".Your luck, this is the last Downtrodden poem "
23 Sep 2004	Dark Lady	Loading... It's great, like the person who commented above me i think i like this one the best so far. As for plant names did you know that the word Tsedek in hebrew means righteous, it is very befitting for the king in exhile and this poem don't you think? Kate "Silverfish" Jennings replies: "I didn't know that, no. I thought I pulled the word out of thin air but I've been exposed to a little Hebrew and a fair dose of Bible translation, interlinear texts etc so I may have heard it at some time, and subconsciously... whatever. Thankyou - and I agree, it is very fitting. Now I need to work out what sort of plant would be called "righteous"!"
2 Apr 2008	Jacob Bowdin	Loading... "There is no shame, Whatever fools say In working the soil And in calloused hands. He himself has laboured In foreign fields, And a king is no better Than the people who crown him." Such is true with any ruler, the people are the masses, they just don’t always realize it. Another good poem =)

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About 'Songs of the Downtrodden 4 (poem)':

• Status: OK
• Created by:

Kate "Silverfish" Jennings
• Copyright: ©Kate "Silverfish" Jennings. All rights reserved!

• Keywords: King, Leaf, Leaves, Flower, Plough, Earth, Farmer, Return, Exile, Armies, Army, Traitor
• Categories: Fights, Duels, Battles, Royalty, Kings, Princes, Princesses, etc, Celtic
• Views: 237

More by 'Kate "Silverfish" Jennings':

Melaine (poem)	Songs of the Downtrodden 3 (poem)	Songs of the Downtrodden 1 (poem)
Taking Wing (poem)	Evening, for Ella (poem)	Songs of the Downtrodden 2 (poem)
Fragment and Song	Dark Nursery Rhymes (poem)

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