Read to the tune of Black Velvet Band
There once was a poet from Glenkarst, Who scribbled and scanned through the day. But he scrapped every sonnet that he drummed out. Each ballad, he burned out of shame. Disheartened, he strolled to the market, For he’d torn up his sheepskins and sheets. And a-wandering onward down Farset Lane, His ears made his heart skip a beat. She lilted with beauty unrivalled, As she busked along Hannigan’s End. And when that she caught our poet’s eye A fever came over our friend. He barrelled back into his study With his spirit revived and renewed. He scribbled and scanned all through the night; Our poet had met with his muse. By morning, his fingers had turned to black. His eyes turned as red as a rose. He set out in search of that lovely maid To read her his poems and prose. She lilted with beauty unrivalled, But turned our poor poet away. For his black-fingered madness had startled her, And the fever was not felt both ways. He barrelled back into his study, Determined to show her his love. He’d wait till the crow of the cock to write And wear no more ink for a glove. He wrote through the summer and winter, He wrote through invasion and war. He wrote till his arms began to ache And still he just kept writing more. She lilted with beauty unrivalled And he wrote to her straight from the heart. A fever began in that maiden’s mind And grinning she said, ‘It’s a start.’ He barrelled back into his study Prepared to win over this lass. Filled with that fire that never fades That fever that never will pass. Our poet he wrote her a sonnet For every day of the week. And I’ll tell you, me lads, how I know that: That poet from Glenkarst was me. She lilted with beauty unrivalled, And someday I’m sure she’ll agree: We’re both in the same predicament With fevers that won’t leave us be.
A Little Bit about the Poem
Rivaazlin, the setting for my novel, is largely defined by its distinctive and rather social pantheon of gods. Many of them walk among mortals, as they often did in Irish mythology. One such God in this pantheon is Calliad Atonia, the God of Music, Poetry, and Rivalry. Calliad Atonia split into four individuals after they met some creative differences.
The Old Fever, the denomination of followers that advocate for their reunion, take their name from this song, one of the most famous ever composed by the god.
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