Flight of Mad Sweeney
He flies over where the Devil could not walk
Singing his mournful song of despair
The places he has been and all he as seen
Since he came to here from there.
He rages at a land of lust
To the crying skies above
Whose raindrops wash his teardrops
As the mourns the death of love.
Sooner he be alone mourn the death of love
Than jump joyous in the lustful arms of chance
Which change, the faces and the smiles
According to the music to which they dance.
The songs he sings of loves never had
Loves unwanted, unreturned, untried and true
Is not love at all, love is a cup broken
Not delph on a shelf that the floor never knew.
In rage so cried against the bell
That rang from hill to water
The cleric decreed as sin mans desire
Of lust and love for another mans daughter
Silent spoken the words uttered in spell
To wander the world wide
To be as clad with feathers or none at all
Till a spear pierces his side.
As his spear, in anger cast from hand
For being blessed by water pierced the psalter
So shall he be, and his death meet
On earths wild stony altar.
For code resisted as not his
Condemned as great the shame
Learned not to hate so wont know love
At least from those who carry the flame.
For all he knows or thinks he knows
For all the verse he writes
From yew tree to the non listening birds
The bard of the Feathers recites.
So he kept their laws though not his nature
He desired respect from them, his pride
Kept him a slave to all he hated
Was a prisoner of their rules caged inside.
He rages at the principles forgotten
He who against principles always rebelled
As foolish as the woe-filled forester
Who mourns the trees he felled.
He wails of times now past when men without complaining
Struggled by through life with less
Knowing its a tale of his own he is telling
If he honestly does confess
The takes to the air above the river
Ruing those who no longer follow life’s set rules
When what he rues is following them himself and life losing
He flies away, chiding the wise as fools..