Wulfnoth (The House of Norwood)

Silent mouth now opened;
words flood onto the floor – Your
soul longs to join with those who
hang in the field of Judas.

Why can't I take your sadness?
I don't believe what I hear – Your
soul longs to join with those who
hang in the field of Judas.

Loved what a father should.
No different tears for you now.
Left with a family curse.
No different tears for us now.

Blood on the grass at Hastings
ten hundred years ago – The
monks came to call the mother,
call at the door of childhood.

A son led to see his father
ten hundred steps from his home – The
monks came to call the mother,
call at the door of childhood.

Loved what a father should.
No different tears for him now.
Left with a family curse.
No different tears for us now!

(I’m letting it go
letting it go…
I’m letting it go
letting it go…
I'm ready to let it go.
Bring me to the king;
show me myself.)

Your life is building houses.
Why do you betray this one? – Your
soul longs to join with those who
hang in the field of Judas.

We are the sons of Wulfnoth;
We are the kings to govern – What
soul longs to join with those who
hang in the field of Judas,
hang in the field of Judas,
hang in the field of Judas?
-BTN '08


NOTES:

These are the lyrics to a madrigal-style song in 9/8. The mood is dark, rolling, and melodic.

The foundation myth of the Norwood clans of Britain goes back to the two sons of Jordanus de Sheppey, the common-marriage son of King Harold Godwinson. King Harold is considered the last Anglo-Saxon king of England. He fell at Hastings in 1066 when he took an arrow in the eye standing against the Norman invaders. Edith Swanneck, the mother of Jordanus, was called to identify the body. I imagine in this poem that Jordanus too was called by the clergy with Edith and that the effects of seeing the results of his father's foiled stand left an impression that almost magically has been imprinted upon his descendents from that day onward. Jordanus de Sheppey's two sons were the first to take the Norman-esque surname "de Northwoode."

Wulfnoth - the grandfather of King Harold, a thegn of Sussex.

The field of Judas - The field (Aramaic: Akel-Dama, Field of Blood) where Judas hung himself, a metonymy for a suicidal intent spawned by the alienation of betraying a benefactor.