• Home
  • Contact
  • Call for Submissions
  • Current Issue
  • Back Issues
    • All Back Issues
    • Inaugural Issue (November 2023)
    • A Christmas Collection (Dec. 25, 2023)
    • Reprints (December 2023)
    • New Series Issue 1 (Winter, 2024)
    • New Series Issue 2 (Spring, 2024)
    • New Series Issue 3 (Summer, 2024)
    • New Series Issue 4 (Fall, 2024)
    • New Series Issue 5 (Winter, 2025)
  • Information Pages
    • Archive
    • Index
    • Authors
    • Books
    • Samplers
    • Resources
    • Communities
    • Historical Texts
    • The Modern Alliterative Revival
  • Reviews

Forgotten Ground Regained

Changeable Presence

Donald Mace Williams
Shaper and batterer, · soother of victims,now low, now high · lingering, dashing,blue-skinned or green, · or brown, whitely crowned,servant and poisoner, · poised to arisein life and beauty · when bonds hold her,death and suffering · when sundered from those.Her soft body · is sought by menboth night and day, · but death visits,with writhing and fear, · those who find her unsought.And while one grows weary, · wishing her elsewhere,another’s chants · fill chapels with pleasthat her gentle touch, · tiresome before,come, night or noon, · and nevermore leave.
Copyright © Donald Mace Williams, 2023
Originally published in Barrow Street, Winter 2004 Reprinted in Forgotten Ground Regained: A Journal of Alliterative Verse, New Series, Issue 2, Spring, 2024
No part of this site may be used or reproduced in any manner for the purpose of training artificial intelligence technologies or systems
Join email discussion list
Answer: water

We use cookies to enable essential functionality on our website, and analyze website traffic. By clicking Accept you consent to our use of cookies. Read about how we use cookies.

Your Cookie Settings

We use cookies to enable essential functionality on our website, and analyze website traffic. Read about how we use cookies.

Cookie Categories
Essential

These cookies are strictly necessary to provide you with services available through our websites. You cannot refuse these cookies without impacting how our websites function. You can block or delete them by changing your browser settings, as described under the heading "Managing cookies" in the Privacy and Cookies Policy.

Analytics

These cookies collect information that is used in aggregate form to help us understand how our websites are being used or how effective our marketing campaigns are.