Come hear the tale of Triem and Trider’s fate.
They loved but found their presence far too late;
Therefore they stood a’looking face to face,
In Trider’s plain, that terrible place.
And yet both loved enough to give embrace,
Yet cruel their eyes did surely speak;
Thus their resolve to kill was not ebbed weak.
No not a bitter tear was there to choke;
No not an eye was there to soak;
Yet still kinship manly flowed
But still to kin it was not owed.
Forsooth for love was love bestowed,
For each had long affection showed.
So thus it would have long still grown.
Save only that the gods had blown,
And thus an evil fate had been a’ sown.
Not a man perceived the foes were friends;
No, not a man perceived the fates ascend.
Neither did they till they would lie
On soaked a’ground to lay and die.
Then their people would mourn and cry;
And thus even earth’s azured eyes would darken
Let slip a tear to well, and hearken,
And hear the moans of their people’s lament;
Then send her storms to pray the sins repent.
What fate had formed that forlorn day,
Of that few can truly say,
Save only this, that it was sorrow
And that people would question life on morrow,
For who can see such dreadful sights
And after not give question to what’s truly right
For after such a wrong is brought to sight
One ought to seek what’s really right.
So curse the day they led opposing sides,
For curse the day that love divides
And thus would fall blow on blow,
For only death could end that row!
But curse! Did they not see with their keen eyes?
Now by love’s hands must fall to die.
Oh fate! For man the feeling have you got none?
Therefore in all the cracks of earth the blood did run.
In air one could feel fate begin to condense
Then began the battle to commence,
Each drew his saber and began to fence.
And In the air the blood became a stench;
And grass and trees became all drenched
And they two did put to fight.
To the knowing eye it was a mournful sight,
Forsooth, between, love ought possess the only true command,
Yet die they must from one another's hand.
Forsooth they fought and slashed in heavy labor!
Each hoping to befall the other with his sabor.
And they two did put to fight.
No tears, no whimpers, not even a weep;
Into the ground the blood did seep.
Then they knew death had won
For all their blood was gone,
So at last when the end must come,
Twice ordered was the drum;
Two sabers found their mark;
Too soon it quenched their spark.
For each had done his very best,
Now two blades lay in their chest,
And then through helmet slits they saw;
Then sorrow broke and beat them raw.
To weak to stay, they both did fall to lay.
What tricks the gods do play;
To make them fall in battle’s fray
Upon that evil fateful day!
Thus did the fighting come to cease;
Thus all did fall and come to peace.
Then sought the men to find their masters;
Upon the grass bestrewed in blood they found disaster.
In bitter tears they looked upon them broken bent and dead,
There laying by the other side by side in red.
Then they removed the helms’ to wash their face,
And there in bloodied battered place,
They stood appalled let lose a terrible crying breath,
For they had come to see that friends brought the thuther death.
Thus read the tale of Triem and Trider’s fate,
How they did find that they were friends but far too late.
The Poem is in Iambic form, but there is no regular syllablic form, nor is the rhyme regular throughout.
