| 8 | Once again there's a war to be fought. |
| 9 | And the battleground will be that young body. |
| 10 | The little map of her flesh |
| 11 | Pure, perfect even, |
| 12 | Will be charred and scarred. |
| 13 | The men will do this of course. |
| 14 | As they always do. To her. To me. |
| 15 | Some of us survive. And are stronger for it. |
| 16 | As yet I've no idea whose side |
| 17 | This one wishes to take. Mine, or that bastard beast, |
| 18 | My sibling who makes the earth tremble and skies crash |
| 19 | And turns all living things into toys |
| 20 | To be played with, broken and discarded. |
| 22 | My sibling Gwydion who creates life but serves death. |
| 26 | At the foot of my bed is an oak-wood chest. |
| 27 | It's empty. And always will be. |
| 28 | On it is a woven shawl |
| 29 | And some pelts of warm fur. |
| 30 | Here burrowed into the folds |
| 31 | Two small eyes squinting out |
| 32 | Is a fox cub. I found it, a stray |
| 33 | In the stable, hiding from the hounds. |
| 39 | Heal yourself wizard. What could I offer you? |
| 42 | I feel for anything that's alone in the world. |
| 43 | Cast aside. The weak, the defenceless |
| 44 | They're the only ones I trust. |
| 45 | And you're right. I wouldn't nurse you. |
| 46 | Families bring grief. Their ties have left me |
| 47 | A prisoner to solitude. I live alone. |
| 50 | My fox warms me back to sleep |
| 51 | And I dream of walking in sunlight |
| 52 | In soft fine slippers in quiet courtyards |
| 53 | Alone, always alone, in a white world. |
| 63 | Why are you here now? In my thoughts? |
| 64 | Shouldn't you be with Llew in Ardudwy? |
| 65 | He wants you. You're still family to him. |
| 66 | Go to him. He pines for you. |
| (1, 1) 93 | And you made him complete? |
| (1, 1) 96 | Why? |
| (1, 1) 97 | You won't find a man more wretched |
| (1, 1) 98 | In the whole of Gwynedd. Still inconsolable. |
| (1, 1) 101 | He's a man now. But still miserable. |
| (1, 1) 102 | He'll grow old before he's known happiness. |
| (1, 1) 103 | You've given him keys to doors |
| (1, 1) 104 | But the world he wants refuses to open for him. |
| (1, 1) 105 | Time's running out. |
| (1, 1) 393 | Women take in strays and strangers. |
| (1, 1) 394 | Offering solace, seeking love. |
| (1, 1) 395 | I'm drawn to the wounded and the wanting. |
| (1, 1) 396 | Perhaps to atone for failing my runt of a son. |
| (1, 1) 397 | Gwydion found some softness in her heart |
| (1, 1) 398 | And reared it. That was atonement too. |
| (1, 1) 399 | It gave Gwydion purpose. But it gave me my weakness. |
| (1, 1) 400 | I'm easily tricked. |
| (1, 1) 401 | Gwydion and Llew came to my fort disguised and |
| (1, 1) 402 | Stole from me weapons and a name |
| (1, 1) 403 | And undid my curses. |
| (1, 1) 404 | For Blodeuwedd now the danger |
| (1, 1) 405 | Is not what might be taken from her, but what she finds. |
| (1, 1) 406 | She'll feast on new fruit and hunger for more. |
| (1, 2) 488 | Three days ago I woke and the cub was gone. |
| (1, 2) 489 | His scent stays on this blanket. I'll put |
| (1, 2) 490 | A fresh pelt in its place. Last year |
| (1, 2) 491 | A fledgling kestrel was blown down |
| (1, 2) 492 | From a nest high in the battlements. |
| (1, 2) 493 | That one stayed with me for two weeks. |
| (1, 2) 494 | I fed it scraps of meat and watched |
| (1, 2) 495 | Its yellow pebble eyes get to know me, |
| (1, 2) 496 | Its hooked beak, soft rimmed, seek out my hand. |
| (1, 2) 497 | I wish that Math had taken me as his pupil |
| (1, 2) 498 | And tutored me in the making of live things. |
| (1, 2) 499 | Gwydion gathered the most perfect petals |
| (1, 2) 500 | And most delicate fronds from broom and meadowsweet |
| (1, 2) 501 | And young oak leaves burnished by spring sun |
| (1, 2) 502 | Rubbed supple by saliva and sweat and tears |
| (1, 2) 503 | Gathered from young girls in feverish nights |
| (1, 2) 504 | And wove and beaded and teased these into life. |
| (1, 2) 505 | To make her. But nothing in that preparation |
| (1, 2) 506 | Endowed her with rationality or responsibility |
| (1, 2) 507 | No sense of duty, no honour. |
| (1, 2) 508 | How could perfection have neglected |
| (1, 2) 509 | The crowning achievements of the human mind? |
| (1, 2) 510 | If I'd had his skills I would have fashioned |
| (1, 2) 511 | A small soft animal or bird, weak and timid |
| (1, 2) 512 | Whose loyalty was to the giver of food and warmth. |
| (1, 2) 513 | The sense of duty bred by grateful dependence. |
| (1, 2) 514 | Yes, I'd have made a companion, a comfort |
| (1, 2) 515 | To spare my nights from being endless things. |
| (2, 1) 665 | Deep in my mind I see them ride |
| (2, 1) 666 | Gronw's rippling muscles, horses' mouths foam-flecked |
| (2, 1) 667 | As hooves hit sparks from rock, and then... |
| (2, 1) 668 | The horses' wheel, and rear. A dead stag |
| (2, 1) 669 | They'd killed in their earlier hunting |
| (2, 1) 670 | But hadn't returned to butcher, lies on the path. |
| (2, 1) 671 | We know why. Gronw had found a sweeter meat |
| (2, 1) 672 | To feast on. Now this forgotten carcass |
| (2, 1) 673 | Has been blown big by three days hot sun |
| (2, 1) 674 | Then punctured and opened by tearing beaks. |
| (2, 1) 675 | Two ravens slowly strut, waiting their turn |
| (2, 1) 676 | While a huge white headed eagle straddles ribs, |
| (2, 1) 677 | Tearing at entrails, dipping into puddles of dark blood, |
| (2, 1) 678 | Its white feathers soaked red. The stench of death |
| (2, 1) 679 | Hangs from the air. A noble beast left out to rot. |
| (2, 1) 680 | That's not the proper huntsman's practised way. |
| (2, 1) 681 | But over cold custom now feverish needs holds sway. |
| (3, 1) 932 | I had a troubled dream. I walked through snow, |
| (3, 1) 933 | Frozen hard. Treacherous. Wind buffeted me. |
| (3, 1) 934 | And there, ahead, a broken shape. But alive, moving. |
| (3, 1) 935 | A bird. I called my man. What is it? |
| (3, 1) 938 | A goshawk. Levering itself on one broken wing |
| (3, 1) 939 | Its head turns, beak open, to hiss a threat. |
| (3, 1) 942 | It stared at me, with burning golden eye, |
| (3, 1) 943 | It rose, puffed out, lifting itself on one crooked wing, |
| (3, 1) 944 | Splayed feathers extended like fingers |
| (3, 1) 945 | Then it leapt from the snow... and laughed at me. |
| (3, 1) 949 | And then I realised. Gwydion still haunts me. |
| (3, 1) 950 | But no longer Llew. Or that girl of flowers |
| (3, 1) 951 | Who will somehow decide our fates. |
| (3, 1) 952 | My outcast son. I don't see him anymore. |
| (3, 1) 953 | He's suddenly disappeared from my dreams. |
| (3, 1) 954 | That's your doing. |
| (3, 1) 956 | You steal from me. Plunder my very thoughts. |
| (3, 1) 957 | It's your game, to leave me broken, empty. |
| (3, 1) 958 | Did you steal my cub in the dark of night? |
| (3, 1) 959 | Were you the gale that carried off my kestrel chick? |
| (3, 1) 961 | You have. You stole my happiness. My youth. |
| (3, 1) 962 | You know you did. And then you stole for him. |
| (3, 1) 963 | You and he turning up here in the guise |
| (3, 1) 964 | Of poor shoemakers. Tempting me down to the boat |
| (3, 1) 965 | Where your wares were set out. You furled |
| (3, 1) 966 | Seaweed around my foot and magicked it into leather |
| (3, 1) 967 | Shaped to a perfect sandal. I marvelled at your skills. |
| (3, 1) 971 | Oh, that tiny wren! That's flitted onto the prow... |
| (3, 1) 975 | He's a lion with the truest hand I've seen. |
| (3, 1) 985 | Get away from here Gwydion. From my lands, |
| (3, 1) 986 | And from my dreams. If I could banish you forever... |
| (3, 1) 991 | Old before my time. Deserted by you all. Dishonoured. |
| (3, 1) 992 | And I disown you all. You, our dead brother, and Llew. |
| (3, 1) 1004 | Go! Go to Annwn to rot with the corpse |
| (3, 1) 1005 | Of your monstrous brother Gilfaethwy! |
| (4, 1) 1277 | You. Back here. You |
| (4, 1) 1278 | Who left me to wither to a windblown husk. |
| (4, 1) 1280 | I heard that Llew was slain. Outside his fort in Ardudwy. |
| (4, 1) 1284 | The wolves and kites and maggot-pies work quickly. |
| (4, 1) 1292 | I also heard his fortress, princedom and Blodeuwedd |
| (4, 1) 1293 | Are now possessed by another. |
| (4, 1) 1295 | No lands, no wife, no son, no heir. |
| (4, 1) 1298 | Why should I help you? |
| (4, 1) 1300 | You're his father, my sister brother. |
| (4, 1) 1302 | You're his father, Gwydion. You know this to be true. |
| (4, 1) 1304 | Have you forgotten that stormy night |
| (4, 1) 1305 | When we were Math's young charges, |
| (4, 1) 1306 | You, me and Gilfaethwy? |
| (4, 1) 1307 | Have you forgotten? |
| (4, 1) 1308 | The two of you came to my bed. |
| (4, 1) 1309 | You'd been drinking and fighting. |
| (4, 1) 1310 | Gilfaethwy was in some frenzy |
| (4, 1) 1311 | Made wild by mead and lust and anger. |
| (4, 1) 1312 | He raped me. Or tried to. I used all my strength |
| (4, 1) 1313 | To fight him off. My own brother was an animal |
| (4, 1) 1314 | He hit me and hurt me but failed to penetrate me. |
| (4, 1) 1315 | Sleep stayed his violence. I lay numbed and hurting. |
| (4, 1) 1316 | Then you, you Gwydion, my sister brother climbed upon me |
| (4, 1) 1317 | Pinned me down and forced yourself inside me. |
| (4, 1) 1318 | Ever the coward, you stole your brother's |
| (4, 1) 1319 | Exhausted prey. You are Llew's father. |
| (4, 1) 1321 | My life was changed forever Gwydion. |
| (4, 1) 1322 | Since that night my thoughts are run through |
| (4, 1) 1323 | With darkness. I've trusted no-one. Loved no-one. |
| (4, 1) 1324 | Not you my brother, and not Llew our son. |