Once
translated by Elin ap Hywel
Once
in a far away land
in an age that was dark
there was a king
a queen as well –
his people, the deer people
hers, the tribe of horses and goats
her body was white
like a long splash of milk
his as hard as horn
they were married at seven,
lived fifty years together,
and raised
a dozen children
she sat in her chamber weaving
he thundered through the great forest
and though they did not love one another
when she span her wool she saw his hair,
for him, it was her skin
when he drew the spear
from the belly of the hind he’d slaughtered
in the end
after gold and bronze and blood-coloured wine
and the silk, and all the ambassadors
from the land where the ginger and indigo grew
the king and his queen died
their flesh an unravelling volume of years
they were buried together
in the same grave
she in the leather mantle of her people
he, according to the deer tribe’s custom
with horns on his head
as strong as steel
and the rains washed over their grave.
