[Ansteorra] A Special Presentation

[gemartt at mail.utexas.edu]

A period-styled presentation was made at the Lysts at Castleton in the evening
court to honor King Abd-al Mahdi Jamal ibn Hakimi.  Baron Conor Drummond read
part of an 11th century Moorish poem (below).  A special dance was then
performed by Her Ladyship, Sosha Lyons O'Rourke, while Corbin O Cathasaigh
drummed.  Her Ladyship had also baked special middle eastern deserts for His
Majesty (which were presented in the court by Lady Catalina de Salamanca and 
Tiernan).

    Myself as Witness,

     Thomas of Tenby




He bestows, for virtue's need
a pure and lovely maid,
a horse of mettle and of breed,
a gem-encrusted blade.

A monarch he who, when the kings
of the earth come down to drink,
they dare not venture to the springs
until he leaves their brink.

He strikes the flint of ardent fame;
The fire of battle he
never quits, save to light the flame
of hospitality.

A king as virtuous as wise,
as charming as discreet,
a garden lovely to the eyes
with fruitfulness replete.

Accept this tribute, if it please,
garden drenched with showers
and visited by morning's breeze,
until it bore these flowers.

   Ibn Ammar

   (d. 1086)


from "Moorish Poetry: A Translation of THE PENNANTS,
an Anthology compiled in 1243 by Ibn Sa'id",
by A.J. Arberry, Cambridge: University Press, 1953.