This metered ode is written by a faery poet named Brighid. She's a character in my novel, The Grim Girl's Gallowglass. In pre-Christian Irish mythology, Brigid (spelled differently) was a member of the Tuatha Dé Danann, a supernatural race. She was the goddess "whom poets adored." Brighid writes this poem, "Grendel's Aunt," over the course of the novel.
"Grendel's Aunt" follows a hero named Hymm who transacts a business deal with Dwenndis, aunt of the monster Grendel, from Beowulf.
Hymm found the kitchen witch stirring a stew,
and he asked what the old crone was after.
She wondered if Hymm knew the serpent named Dwenndis?
That shape-shifting fluke-tailed old harpy horrendous?
Amygdala wanted to send her a note.
The plot, like her stew, she would thicken.
If Hymm would deliver this note to old Dwenn,
she'd bewitchen his quest or his love life.
“I'm not on a quest, really more of a ruse,
and my skills are quite capable, here I can't lose.
As for love, that'll work itself out once I save
Cindy's neighbors from Grendel's attack.”
“Are you sure Cindy's ready to offer her heart?”
“Yes, my lover will marry me soon.”
Amygdala cackled and pulled up a chair.
“She told me you're like an injurious hair
that she pulls and she waxes and plucks in despair
but grows back within six to eight weeks!”
“Really? She said that?” His pompadour drooped
and the confidence drained from his chest.
“Don't worry my boy, Wyrm will find you a toy
who will love you much better than Cindy Malloy.
We'll banish her visage and worry no more for
Sweet Cindy the Sleeve-Hearted whore."
"Grendel's Aunt" is protected under a Creative Commons license stipulating no derivatives and full attribution.