Poetry Visualized - ORFEO AND ETAIN 2

ORFEO AND ETAIN 2

iv The land was poor. She little knew of seeds. Yet she was just and everyone ate bread. One morning on the shore amid the reeds She found a body lying almost dead! A man it was! She raised his bleeding head. So swollen, bruised, it gave her quite a fright! But pity filled her gentle heart instead. The wind and waves, now calm, had raged all night. She guessed his ship had floundered in the fury's might. v Her maids and knights placed him inside a cart. Back to their wooden mean-hall he was brought. Her nephew, now fifteen, felt sick at heart, Resentful. Yet her love and praise he sought. For many days with death the sailor fought. Etain, her nephew too, sat by his side. She cleaned his wounds. Who knows what first he thought When he awoke? He tried to smile, but only cried. She told him how she'd found him washed up with the tide. vi "My thanks," he said, "They call me Orfeo. I sailed from Rome a newer Troy to build With Brut. But in the storm we couldn't row. We lost the fleet, though we were all quite skilled. Our sails were torn! On deck the water spilled!" She bade him rest. Etain stayed by his bed. In time her nephew's heart with kindness filled. Not Orfeo nor she recalled who said If first, but they were fast in love and soon were wed. vii The county prospered better with his aid, For he was wise and worthy to be King. But what was best of all the harp he played So well! Etain with him would often sing. Of sheep and shearing he knew everything. But all his plans for plowing soon went wrong! The soil was rocky, too much rain each spring. Yet he could build. So he worked hard and long. In five years time he raised in stone a castle strong. viii Her nephew now grown tall and brave became The Steward of the land. There was no strife 'Twixt him and Orfeo. Yet she felt shame. She often saw him disregard his life. His rudeness to her cut her like a knife! And sad it is to say and yet it's true That Orfeo oft' argued with his wife. He tried to help or tell her what to do. Wherever she would go, he sought to be there too.