Forgotten Ground Regained
Riddle 2
My life’s from the Laugher, the lithe and the sly.My brother waits · brooding in water,and sister sets supper · for the uneating.While teething, I took · table-meatsfrom the Nine-Rune Master, the raider of mead,and revelled beside · two ravens and wolves.A hand that is no hand · had me chained;now nothing clings to me, though I’m closely clasped.I’ll stretch one day, and strip myself of restraints,I’ll be the eater · of the other eye.I’ll find a feast · that will flame within me,and gnaw it in · the numbness of nightcold.
Copyright © Bruce Byfield, 2023
First published in Forgotten Ground Regained: A Journal of Alliterative Verse, New Series, Issue 2, Spring 2024.
Answer: the Fenris wolf