Bright is the brisk yellow bee
Flies fleetly, floats, and dives
When done, returns to waxed hive
His Majesty Matthias
Perceives one We should not pass
Queen Feilinn concurs there's one
Soaring in East Kingdom’s sun
Jenette Colquhoun called Eaj
Emulates said busy bee
Spans years of steady aid
Perceives purpose as she’s played
For service, we'll ne'er appeal
Eaj’s award: Silver Wheel
This accolade is well fit
It's a bee in her bonnet
Done at East Kingdom Twelfth Night and Buckland Cross Baronial Investiture,
Anno Societatis LVIII
7 syllables
AABB Rhyme scheme
Alliteration
[phonetic pronunciation of the recipient’s preferred name]
A
A
B
B
A O’er her fulfilling journey
A Bright is the brisk yellow bee
B That flies fleetly, floats, dives
B When done, returns to waxed hive
A His Majesty Matthias
A Perceives one We should not pass
B Queen Feilinn concurs there's one
B Soaring in East Kingdom’s sun
A Jenette Colquhoun called Eaj [Egee]
A Emulates said busy bee
B Spans years of steady aid
B Perceives purpose as she’s played
A Eaj’s [Egee’s] acts we'll ne'er appeal
A Our salute: The Silver Wheel
B An accolade aptly fit
B It's a bee in her bonnet
Done at East Kingdom Twelfth Night and Buckland Cross Baronial Investiture,
Anno Societatis LVIII
There was not a great deal of new research, mostly relying on what I had done before.
I checked Early Irish Poetry to c.1200 and decided to tale a poem I found in Irish syllabic poetry:
“An example is a short poem by an Irish missionary monk in a ninth century manuscript in Saint Gall, Switzerland (with rhyme, assonance and alliteration here marked)”
Daith bech buide a húaim i n-úaim
ní súail a uide la gréin:
fó for fuluth sa mag már
dag a dagchomhal 'na chéir.
(Nimble is the yellow bee going from flower to hollow flower,
no trifling journey in the sun;
it flies boldly into the great plain,
then returns to good company in the waxy hive.)
I found another translation of the poem:
The Yellow Bee from Early Irish Literature by Myles Dillon (1948:1972 reprint) p.155. Uni Chicago Press.
Nimble is the yellow bee from cup to cup,
he makes a great journey in the sun,
boldly he flits into the wide plain,
then safely joins his brethren in the hive.
VERSE ONE
A O’er her fulfilling journey
My process is to take the English translations of the poem and put them into the syllable count, rhyme and alliteration that they would have had in their original language. This is sometimes easier said than done. Trying to conform English into an ancient language that very often comes from a different alphabet is challenging. But it is an exceedingly fun challenge!
For the first sentence I essentially had to squish the first two of the original together. Yea, though I tried I could not figure out how to alliterate this first sentence! So I just skipped it as is the province of the author.
A Bright is the brisk yellow bee
While I had to drop the reference to the sun, I hope Bright compensates and sets the same mood.
B That flies fleetly, floats, dives
Instead of trying to convey where the bee is flying, I used alliteration to emphasize the kind of flight that a bee does on its daily journey gathering pollen.
B When done, returns to waxed hive
“Waxed hive” was the phrase I wanted to emphasize. It was so visually captivating and though it was in only one of the translations I looked at, I definitely wanted to keep it in my version. All of this bee imagery was used to emphasize the many years the recipient has played and their extensive and varied service within their group.
VERSE TWO
A His Majesty Matthias
As we get past the introductory poem and into the meat of the scroll, we start by naming the King. Gotta love it when His Majesty’s name alliterates with his title!
A Perceives one We should not pass
Slightly unusually his name is not followed immediately by Her Majesty’s, but is instead a continuation of HRM’s thought. It did occur that this could be interpreted as a Lord of the Rings reference. It was not intended as such. And the context is in such a different direction that I hope it will not be interpreted such as it is read.
B Queen Feilinn concurs there's one
Her Majesty is named here agreeing with His Majesty's statement. This is a time when the two alliterative words start with completely different letters, and that makes me smile.
B Soaring in East Kingdom’s sun
The summation of the verse indicates the recipient is here in the East Kingdom. While his verse doesn’t contain the same poetry as the first, it is very informative and continues some of the imagery started in the first verse with the reference to the sun.
VERSE THREE
A Jenette Colquhoun called EAJ [Egee]
The recipient is named at last. Apparently, they go by the moniker of EAJ, or Evil Auntie Jeanette. I had to reach out to their contact and ask them how EAJ was pronounced! According to the contact, it's pronounced, “Egee.”
At this point I reached out to a Voice Herald for their advice. How would they, who have to read this in court, like it to be printed out on the cheat sheet for court?
They said that they would rather have the phonetic spelling in the cheatsheet with a note in the bottom indicating what the true spelling was.
Now, I know many heralds and members of the C&I community personally and had no problem reaching out to them to figure this out. If it was a new scribe, I would recommend they take their questions to the Signet’s offices, and email the Signet directly.
A Emulates said busy bee
At first I avoided the phrase Busy as a Bee, or any references to it. Surely, I thought, it had to be of modern or Victorian origin. Much to my delight, credit to the phrase belongs to Chaucer! While Chaucer is modern by several centuries to Old Irish poetry, I would rather choose an anachronism within the auspices of the SCA’s time period than a modern reference. Happily the phrase was included, if a bit truncated for syllable count.
B Spans years of steady aid
The recipient’s many years of service was incredibly detailed and emphasized in their recommendation.
B Perceives purpose as she’s played
The recipient’s service has become how she has played in the East Kingdom and hopefully these words reflect that.
VERSE FOUR
A Eaj’s [Egee’s] acts we'll ne'er appeal
This verse is a case where re-reading your work is a good thing. Somehow I had written the whole verse and sent it off to the scribe without adjusting the alliteration! Unlike the first sentence, a whole verse without alliteration was unacceptable.
Thankfully the scribe had not started on the last verse when and I had the luxury to correct a mistake.
A Our salute: The Silver Wheel
There is some poetic license in using small words in alliterative groups, but it's better not to rely on that for the main alliterative choices. In Norse poetry, for instance, prepositions would not count for alliteration. There are many similarities between Old Norse and Old Irish, as such, S and W were the options of this sentence.
In an effort to convey that an award is not a prize but recognition, the choice of word here had a lot of thought behind it. I felt avoiding words like reward or prize was in order. Add to that the specific words I had available to alliterate to, it made this a thesaurus search of epic proportions. In this context, “salute” as in a gesture of affirmation fit the exact poetic beat I was trying to convey here.
B An accolade aptly fit
As previously mentioned, “an” is not technically a part of the alliteration. However, when it is heard in court, one’s ear will certainly accept it. That the proper preposition here was alliterative was a coincidence
B It's a bee in her bonnet
The idiom dates back to the 16th century of Scotland. In Gavin Douglass’s Latin Vocabulary by CD Gordon, with an original printing in 1553. Once again, a phrase I thought very modern has its direct roots with period.
Generally the phrase indicates a fixation or obsession. However, I am using it in the same context as A Feather in One’s Cap. “A symbol of honor and achievement.” A phrase that can be documented to the last 1500s.
A bit of mixing of idioms, but in the context of the scroll, the meaning is clear.
Done at East Kingdom Twelfth Night and Buckland Cross Baronial Investiture,
Anno Societatis LVIII
For the last few pieces of required information the poetic form is dropped and they are just included at the bottom of the scroll. As the creator of the piece, I would have no issue with the Court Herald abandoning this sentence in order to save time in court. It's not a part of the poetry. As it is, I did take the opportunity afforded me by the low word count to write out the full name of the event and Anno Societatis. A luxury I seldom indulge in because of poetics and wordcount.
I used several phrases in this scroll that are most certainly not from the time period of the recipient, but do have their roots in the times encompassed by the SCA.
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