Bayeux Tapestry

HAROLD:- REX:- INTERFECTVS: EST

King Harold has been killed

1.
We came prepared to fight,
our horses sailed the channel
curved necks and curved prows;
demanding my rights.

     My swordsmen strong and brave
     had marched two weeks from victory
     expecting to drive the Norman dog
     back to the sea.

I ordered ships to be built.
Our axes had chopped the trees of Normandy,
now, double handed, they fell
charging rider and horse.

     Broadswords slash, pierce limb and body,
     swing, slice, hack head from neck.
     Spears flung, lances plunge from horseback.
     Death crying, stinking.

Chain mail is heavy, intricate, strong.
Weeks of finger bruising work to make.
We peeled it as trophies from the English dogs
where they lay.

     A sword half the height of his horse
     struck me down. My axe tottered
     and dropped on the Hastings hill.
     Today's third royal brother killed.

Bowmen, bowmen swift and eager;
taut biceps, taut bowstrings;
racing to attack as if escaping
from the underworld.

     Shields like pincushions from a rain of darts.
     The most famous arrow in history
     struck his eye; mine they said.
     In the heat who could tell?

2.
I, Mary Adeline Gwynne, Saxon seamstress,
sewed in soft wool this scene of victory
and defeat, conquest and disaster.
Have I told true?

My gentle stitches: aqua, copper green, gold,
rust and lemon, unfold what William's men told.
'The banner of justice rises from
the hill of blood.'

Eagles, gryphons and geese wave and cheer;
lions, lifting their tails, look down on the field
of strife and torment. All shouting and rushing
is stilled in silent thread.

May 2007 & Jan 2022