Gideon ap Stephen, Master of the Laurel

Mae’r bardd syml hwn wedi gwrando a chodi mewn gras, mewn gair, yn ei galon, ac yn adnod**

Gather all the call to hear.
Pay heed as crowned sovereigns of the land
Now demand a new Peer.

With one voice,* come and partake.
Praise one whose words, as white-capped sea and sky,
Cause sigh, and swoon, and ache.

From his hands, no shallow work.*
Consider the soul’s need for noble bard,*
Virtue’s guard does not shirk –

When the Muse insists he start.
He cannot help but have such perfect form*
of words’ insistent art.

Every kingdom, every land
Has known his gifts of service and largesse.
No lesser wonders stand

Time’s sharp tests, or so endear.
And of prowess – We dare a fault be found.
In joy abound, appear,

Plant and grow the Order grove.
Place greenest leaves upon his head today
So e’re this master rove,

Laurels on his head adorn.
And Hawkwood hearth and all known kingdoms far
Where his words are borne

See the praise the poet earned
For giving voice and sharing tale and song,
For long, the poet learned.

Rise a Master ‘mid your friends,
Knowing this day so etched in heart and lore
begins your tale, not ends.


In satiation of our long desire, We, King Cuan and Queen Signy, elevate Master Gideon ap Stephen, to the Order of the Laurel, and confer unto him, by Letters Patent, these arms: Per bend sinister argent and sable, a musimon rampant counterchanged.

We set this act in heart and in ink at the 45th Annual Tournament of Ymir in the Barony of Windmasters’ Hill on the 22nd day of February, in the season between gaeaf and gwanwyn, in the fifty-fourth year since the world began.


Cuan MacDaige and Signy Heri
Verum est.
Triton Herald

Photo by Master Gideon.

Words by Mistress Aneleda Falconbridge / calligraphy and illumination by Mistress Lucia Bellini

The Form

Form: This poetry form is the Welsh englyn byr cwca.
1st line – 7 syllables, end rhymes w line 3; / 2nd line – 10 syllables ends with whatever BUT something in the middle of line 3 needs to rhyme with the end of line 2 / 3rd line – 6 syllables ends rhymes with line 1; something in the middle of 3 rhymes with end line 2

Notes:


Mae’r bardd syml hwn wedi gwrando a chodi mewn gras, mewn gair, yn ei galon, ac yn adnod.  

This is inspired by a line in Welsh on Gideon’s Apprentice Scroll:  “This simple bard does promise in word, in heart and in verse To Listen, to Learn To Rise (stand). All to follow in your grace.” 

 It has been adapted as an answer of completion: “This simple bard has listened and risen in grace, in word, in heart, and in verse.” 

“With one voice” refers to Gideon’s song, “With One Voice”

Reference to a line from “The Battle of Goddeu” by the famed Welsh bard Taliesin; translator unknown /

From his hands, no shallow work.*
Consider the soul’s need for noble bard,* are references to lines from “The Battle of Goddeu” by the famed Welsh bard Taliesin; translator unknown: “God, consider the soul’s need / of Owain son of Urien! Rheged’s prince, secret in loam: / No shallow work shall praise him.”

“He cannot help but have such perfect form” is a line from Seven Deadly English Sonnets: “Pride (This is Not a Metaphor)” by Gideon ap Stephen. 

Welsh terms: gaeaf (winter) and gwanwyn (spring)