Safiya al-Naghira - Silver Brooch

Safiya al-Naghira
Is before us today
Taking crafts all the way
In the drive toward precise kit
Sewing and woven trim 
Silver Brooch is Our whim
An award that's a fine fit 
Brennan and Caoilfhionn’s aim
As Sultans East, proclaim
The award’s palpable hit
We have increased her ranks
At Archery Champs
Honors were glad to  befit 

Wordcount 57

 KEY 

Syllables 6,6,7

bba 

cca 

dda

Safiya al-Naghira

6b Is before us today

6b taking crafts all the way

7a In the drive toward precise kit

6c Sewing and woven trim 

6c Silver Brooch is Our whim

7a An award that's a fine fit 

6d Brennan and Caoilfhionn’s aim

6d As Sultans East, proclaim

7a The award’s palpable hit

6e We have increased her ranks

6e At Archery Champs

7a Honors were glad to  befit 

Istanbul was Constantinople
Now it's Istanbul, not Constantinople
Been a long time gone, Constantinople
Now it's Turkish delight on a moonlit BLOG!
Marian Kirkpatrick approached me to write this Silver Brooch. The recipient had Turkish listed as their persona, but no particular time period.  With that in mind I found Istanbul Folk Quatrains, Lullabies, and Proverbs which led to Balassi Stanza
And this piece on the Balassi Stanza.
The form is attributed to Bálint Balassi, (1554-1594) a Hungarian poet who wrote in a Turkish style. Technically each Tercet is one poetic sentence.  

Safiya al-Naghira
The recipient's name was more than any of the syllabus available. As such I chose to put their name at the beginning of the scroll, as a title or chapter name in a book. This sets up the importance of her name without trying to cram it into one of the rhyme lines. Also her name, even broken down, had very little usable rhyming sounds. 

VERSE ONE 
Is before us today
Since their name began the scroll it made sense to have the first tercet/sentence be the description of their art. 

Taking crafts all the way
The recipient’s desire to finish garb to the edges, as it were, was described in several ways and in several different mediums. Representing this in the scroll was definitely a priority.

In the drive toward precise kit
This drive to finish their outfits or kits extended to replacing purchased trim with trim they had created. 

VERSE TWO 
Sewing and woven trim 
The second verse begins with essentially reiterating what I just said. Sewing and trim making are specifically mentioned in the recommendation. 

Silver Brooch is Our whim
The name of the award is finally listed.  With a solid rhyme for trim.

An award that's a fine fit 
Coming in with a rhyme the tercet has a well rounded and complete sentence. Most of the rhymes in this scroll are one or two syllable rhymes.  Fairly simple, but that makes for the best rhymes when listened to out loud.

VERSE THREE
Brennan and Caoilfhionn’s aim
I chose to split TRM with their titles.  While I don’t often choose to do that, in the context of the tercet being one sentence, I think it makes sense and adds more depth to the scroll.

As Sultans East, proclaim
Sultan is not TRM’s preferred title.  In context of the scroll and its Turkish inspiration, I felt that “Sultans” gives a better appropriate touch to the recipient of the scroll.

The award’s palpable hit
I could not resist adding a Shakespeare quote here.  Though Hamlet wasn’t written until 1603 and in a completely different language than the verse form that I am following for this scroll, I still included it.  Sometimes, adding an out of period reference (whether it is period if modern) adds to the audience's understanding of the scroll in general.  It could be that I just liked the phrase.

VERSE FOUR
We have increased her ranks
The conclusionary tercet. Where it tells you what was said.

At Archery Champs
Tells you where it was said.

Honors were glad to befit 
And lastly tells you how glad we were to say it!
In scrolls that have multiple words with the same rhyme the key is simplicity.  I tried several words and went through as many variations before I chose to rhyme with “kit.”  

The Balassi Stanza was a delightful rhyme scheme to have discovered. I hope I get more opportunities to create with it in the future.

Photo by Marian Kirkpatrick

Photo by Aislinn Chiabach

Safiya al Naghira - newest member of the Order of the Silver Brooch

Video by Yona Carmichael

Pooka Small - Award of Arms

Among flowers - Pooka Small

Stands in Atlantia’s hall

Before Afshin and Yasmin

Rulers standing proudly tall

Award of Arms presenting

Heeding people’s cheerful call

As Our custom so dictates

Following Our Protocol

Done at Crown Tourney, on May Fifth -  Anno Societatis LVIII 

Wordcount 42

No Photo available

KEY Tang Dynasty Poetry

8 lines AAXAXAXA

A Among/ flowers/ - Pooka Small

A Stands in/ Atlant/ia’s hall

X Before/ Afshin/ and Yasmin

A Rulers/ standing/ proudly tall

X Award/ of Arms/ presenting

A Heeding/ people’s/cheerful call

X As Our/ custom/ so dictates

A Follow/ing Our/ Protocol

Done at Crown Tourney, on May Fifth -  Anno Societatis LVIII 

"If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, BLOG it?" ~Albert Einstein

I was approached by Hua Meilan to write an AoA for a recipient in the Kingdom of Atlantia.  Their persona was from the Tang Dynasty of China but the Inspiration image was from the Ming Dynasty.  Tang dynasty poetry that was revered in the Ming dynasty and as such, I feel comfortable using Tang Poetry in a Ming era scroll.
Lots of google searching ensued.

There were tantalizing hints of different kinds of the many poetic forms available.  I spent some time on references to Lushi poetry Lüshi, Wade-Giles romanization lü-shih, a form of Chinese poetry that flourished in the Tang dynasty. It consists of eight lines of five or seven syllables, each line set down in accordance with strict tonal patterns. Lüshi provided a new, formal alternative to the long-popular free gushi (“ancient-style poetry”). 

I was getting pretty frustrated at the overwhelming amounts of information I kept finding, but nothing that seemed to be helping  me set on a poetic form.  I reached out to friends that I know have expertise in Asian studies then I was pointed to the SCA Discord for Asian Poetry.
There I got enough keywords and phrases to find: A Short Selection of  Tang Poems. This became the source I based the scroll on. Not only did it give me examples of the rhyme and how many lines poems contained, but it also discussed the nature of Tone pattern and how  incompatible it is with English. I had to abandon the concept entirely for this composition. I chose to concentrate on the other aspects of rhyme and subject matter  and to treat the tones as syllables.

8 lines AAXAXAXA

7 S S / L L / S S L (R) 

7  L L / S S / S L L (R)

7 L L / S S / L L S

7 S S / L L / S S L (R)

7 S S / L L / L S S

7 L L / S S / S L L (R)

 7L L / S S / L L S

7 S S / L L / S S L (R)

Through that source I also learned of the poet Lǐ Bái 李白 or Li Bo.  And When Tang Dynasty poetry ruled the world and Li Bai English Translations.  He’s considered one of the best writers of Tang Dynasty poetry. I had several English translations to reference when writing the scroll.

I relied heavily on two translations of Drinking Alone Beneath the Moon For inspiration in this scroll.
Drinking Alone Beneath the Moon

In the flowers with a jug of wine,

Drinking alone, no companions near,

I raise the cup and ask the moon to join,

Turn round to my shadow – and we are three.

Now, moon doesn't know how to drink,

And shadow only follows my form,

But, for the moment, moon and shadow friends,

Life's joy an instant springlike blooms.

I sing. Moon starts to sway,

I dance. Shadow reels and rolls.

Wine wakened, we join in delight –

Drunk, we scatter on our ways.

Let's be ever bound in journeys passion free,

And pledge to meet beyond the Milky Way

Drinking Alone Beneath the Moon

Among the flowers, a bottle of booze.

I drink alone, no friend is near. 

Raising a cup, I invite the moon, 

and, combined with my shadow, I become three. 

Unfortunately, the moon does not drink,

But my shadow follows me. 

For now, I have the moon and my shadow as companions, 

and we need to party before spring comes to an end. 

I sing and the moon paces back and forth,

I dance and see my shadow move like a hot mess.

While sober, we had fun together. 

After getting drunk, each of us splits up. 

Forever united, we roam without feeling, 

only to see each other when we make it to the Milky Way.

Among flowers - Pooka Small

I took the “among flowers” as a direct quote from the Lǐ Bái poem.  Then I added the recipient’s name. “Small” as it turned out was a good choice of words as it had many that rhymed with it.  That provided great fodder for the rest of the scroll.

Stands in Atlantia’s hall

This was honestly one of the harder moments for me.  Not writing a scroll for the East and the cadence and rhyme that I am used to is a real challenge. This sentence did not adhere to the syllable breakup that I was attempting with each sentence of 2/2/3.  But “Atlantia” had to be in this spot and this sentence was one of the ones that had to rhyme with “small.”

Before Afshin and Yasmin

Thank goodness for these unrhymed sentences.  Finding a word that has five rhymes is fairly difficult.  Having these three breaks in the rhyme allowed me definite leeway in the composition.  I was also grateful that TRM’s names helpfully adhered to the syllable counts that I needed.

Rulers standing proudly tall

Due to the dictates of the poem I was not able to put in any sort of praising descriptor or Their majesties preferred titles.  This is a hazard of many poetic forms, not just this new one.

Award of Arms presenting

The naming of the award.  This was the second non rhymed word.

Heeding people’s cheerful call

The scroll often dictates how it wants to be written.  Here, instead of a descriptor of the recipient, I reference the people of the kingdom instead. 

As Our custom so dictates

This was originally going to be another nature reference and be,“Our custom under warm sun.” This second reference to nature had to be given up to better fit the syllables  and the line became “As Our custom so dictates.”

Following Our Protocol

The last word to rhyme with, “small” in the composition. What particularly pleased me about this was that it still  rhymed well, but was not the one syllable word all the others are.  It also still adhered to the 2/2/3 syllable breakdowns I attempted to adhere to.

Done at Crown Tourney, on May Sixth -  Anno Societatis LVIII 

This last sentence does not adhere to the poetic form at all.  It is, indeed, tacked on at the end to include the last bits of pertinent information.

This is my interpretation of Tang dynasty poetry as interpreted into English. I hope I did it justice and I think I achieved it.