ANST - Bards & More Bards

[Mike C. Baker]

>> hear. Being fairly new to this organization, it also makes me very
hesitant
>> to try the bardic experience myself.
> Siobhan
> == >>
>Be not afraid.
>There are enough supporters of bardcraft in this fair kingdom to keep a
goblet
>filled until judgement come. If a starving man turn away food, let his
bones
>show as testimony to his foolishness. There are many experianced and
>passionate performers in these lands, and they will never turn away from
the
>new performer, those who truly love the art and wish to share it.
<SNIP>
>As for that particular circle you suffered,...well, bards and minsrels are
>found in many places, not just circles.
>Have faith, what you witnessed was far from the entire picture.

Fionnagan, Siobhan, Gunnora, Galen, et al.:  recent exchanges had already
set me to thinking.  There were a couple of "triggers" in Siobhan's words
and
Fionnagan's response that made me wish I could get to an event sooner than
it appears will be possible. So, I'll maunder on to a semi-captive audience
in written form instead...

(The following is another new composition, my friends and acquaintances.
The "special effects" instructions may help set the scene / mood I
want to establish in this non-emotive medium.

It comes to you unpolished, at best lightly edited, and very much from
my heart.  If I had been doing this extemporaneously in front of your
hearth,
rest assured that there would have been very little changed -- and the
rhyme-schemes & rhythms in the song would have been cruder, at best.

Dream your dreams as best you see and feel them; share what
you can of those dreams with those newly arrived in the Current Middle Ages.
     Amra, bard; Reverend Kihe [the Dreamsinger Bard]; Mike, a modern poet)

<f/x: picture me standing before you in a red cloak, staff in hand,
bare-headed, and "declaiming". If it helps your visualization, pretend
that I am either lecturing or preaching to the assembled audience>

"Look around you, Ansteorra!  Do you see them standing, or sitting,
or lounging otherwise upon the fringes of the firelight, in the antechamber
of the festhall, along the pathways of your camps? The shy newcomers,
uncertain of what they have gotten themselves into.

"Listen near you, Ansteorra!  Hear the quiet song, the gentle strum of
fingers
upon strings, the hesitant recitation of a perhaps reluctant voice.  Listen
to
the small errors you yourself once made, or which happened in your presence
such that you avoided making the same mistake yourself... Hear, and
REMEMBER!

"Remember from your hearts, Ansteorrans! Remember when you were
no more and perhaps even less than these, when your voice was too soft
to overcome the wind in the trees or your tune played hesitantly for lack
of practice or your story was spoken only to one or two concealed in the
shadows alongside the places where you remained for fear of being
noticed.

"Then, when you see what is, and hear what is becoming, and remember
what came before -- welcome these who are newly arrived! Make room
in your fireside circles, make space at your tables, and make ready in
your hearts for the approaching generations who will share our dreams,
and in some way the larger Dream that enfolds us all.

                  OPEN THE CIRCLES
                  Amr ibn Majid al-Bakri al-Amra (Mike C. Baker)
   [TTTO "Circles" / "Windmills", loosely interpreted]

     In the shadows of the evening we retire to our campsites
     We share in the even-feast and recall the long day
     Be aware in the darkness around are eyes shining ever-bright
     They will see what you do as they move near, then away

           (chorus)
          There are circles we weave as we move through the twilight
          There are circles we share to share tales of the brave
          And these are the circles to hold in memory bright
          Where the past is remembered to chain Darkness in a cave.

     A young man, or woman, standing just o'er the threshold
     Afraid to come in, with more fear to stay out
     Will you bid them welcome, show them what this all means to you
     Or will your's be an UN-welcome, some "Go away" shout?

           (chorus)

      Remember the passings and each of our passages
      Raise the bright banners in the vault of each mind
     We are the past, true, but must teach for the future
      The banners are brightest that are aired time to time

           (chorus)

     Open your hearts, talespinners, stout poets and singers
     Open your minds and let the whole Known World know
     Open your circles and bring the bright-eyes within them
     For a circle once opened can do nothing but grow!

      * * *
Mike C. Baker
SCA: Amr ibn Majid al-Bakri al-Amra
"Other": Kihe Blackeagle (the Dreamsinger Bard)
My opinions are my own -- who else would want them?
e-mail: kihe at ticnet.com OR kihe at rocketmail.com


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