The Epic of Skae Tep

Part 1

My sister, Ces, was born a year after me,

and when I was 4 and she was 3,

our parents went to dig the peat.

Their end they met in the deep of a fog,

somewhere between the field and the bog;

viciously shredded by a rabid boar hog.

Their bodies were burned at the start of day,

While the villagers cried and mourned and prayed,

and a horse in the field whinnied and neighed.

Ces and I went to live among others,

And there we found many sisters and brothers;

Some became friends and some became lovers.

In a boy named Din, I saw my life

as it would unravel, with me as his wife.

Peaceful were we, without a moment of strife.

In the summer of my seventh swing,

Into this loving world I did bring,

not one, but three, of the tiniest things.

Bright eyed and shaking, brought into this world,

Te, Fra, and Cyb's lives unfurled,

Their brand new fingers, around mine curled.

Then in the heat of the night, their crying began,

A wailing so shrill, it was heard through the land.

It grew louder still, like a fire fanned.

Nothing could hush them, through day and through night,

Their limbs contorted; an ungodly sight!

while demons inside them raged in fits and in fights.

Then finally they fell silent and their skin turned ash grey

with each breath they took, they slipped further away

later that night, in death's hands they did lay.

We burned their bodies like the bodies before

soon, rain came down and started to pour

but the fire raged on, building more and more.

We watched, unbelieving, as the fire raged on,

all through the night until the day broke dawn.

We looked for the ashes, but by magic they were gone.

Terrified and defeated,

we prayed and pleaded,

as we silently retreated.

Some time later, Elder Ok was at our door;

knocking at night while in slumber we snored

to tell us he'd heard of our terrible horrors.

There was more than sympathy behind his calling -

The demons our triplets brought forth were appalling;

and now they were loose, free for maiming and mauling.

To right the order of the natural sphere,

the directions brought forth were perfectly clear;

building stone circles would eradicate our fears.

Work began thusly, and stones began to roll,

while the elders prayed and their prayer bells tolled,

a massive stone circle was built upon a grassy knoll.