The Wakened Rose
(Nemõné’s Song)
She awoke to the night,
walked the darkened room,
in the light of the moon
set a hand to her cheek.
Tears shed in sleep
lay wet on her face,
and she strove to recover
the dream – again to find
that vanished vision
of her mind.
‘Come, sit we where the roses glow’.
No more. No more remained.
What could she make of it?
The dream had flown.
‘Come, sit we where the roses glow’:
that sole refrain in place of it…
and the redolence of roses
at the window. Her hand reached out –
one faded flower fell in petals
at her feet. She took its heart,
and held it in her palm.
The heart remained, complete.
And calmed, she knew.
One morning, slow to dawn,
every rose would stay a rose,
and not become a thorn.
Seasons with my Lady
(Senerys’ Elegy for Nemõné)
I loved you
and you pitied me
for loving you so much.
I touched you
and you came to me
not trembling at the touch.
I kissed you
and you honoured me
as paper honours pen…
I watched you,
and you smiled at me –
and loved a little, then.
And only then I read your heart.
In its pages I could see
a calendar of quiet pain
had marked your days with me.
And only when I read your heart
and quiet seasons passed,
you loved me – and I pitied you
for loving me at last.
From ‘The Lost Manuscripts’
© 2023 Dafydd Hughes Lewis. All rights reserved. 
The Wakened Rose..a melancholy striving for the elusive romance of her dream with the hope of a perfect, painless love to come.
Seasons with My Lady..a bittersweet tale of loving in an unequal partnership, where the balance of emotions is both difficult and delicate.
Both beautifully conveyed Dafydd, diolch am rannu.
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Thank you, Gill. Glad you liked the two poems, and that’s an eloquent analysis of that particular relationship. On the lighter side, concerning the subtitles, I was tempted to counterpoise ‘Senerys’ ELEGY for Nemõné’ with ‘Nemõné’s ALLERGY for Senerys’! 😀 (Just kidding!)
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Lovely. Senerys and Nemone? I should probably know, but the story is new to me…
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Thanks for your comment, mabdarogan, and glad you like the ‘Lays’. The names are those of characters in what has proved to be an interminably long, unfinished ‘heroic epic’ of mine, which I have called, (for ‘The Igam-Ogam Mabinogion’) ‘The Armoured Isle’. Every now and again I post bits and pieces from this, mostly poetry. Three sets of the ‘Lays’ have appeared so far.
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