My husband stooped
picked up the bag
spun me round
“You know this man?”
I then shook loose his grip
he who once was at least a friend
The Norseman stepped between us then
“She thought me dead
I did come back
but she was wed & with child
Then talk spread through the land
that you are not all that you pretend
You dont deserve her love
you cant buy honorable intent.
I thought then it better
to stay dead and bide my time
Things have changed
What you cast away is mine”
The heavy man backed up to the door, asked
“Do you mean to say the young man is yours?”
He laughed again, shook his head
“I’ll lay odds he is not, wager a bet?
while he is fair , with eyes of blue
Rest assured he belongs not to you.
Come with me , we will turn the earth
and dig up the sire of his birth”
“Please leave us lady” said the northern man
This I did and took my grown son.
I could not speak
I knew I would lose my little one
The stranger removed his headpiece
mano a mano eye to eye
“Cagnazzo, with your fine palazzo
I pity you, my Roman “friend”
May we never meet again
You keep your son by blood
he is the only love you truly have.
You were but this woman’s crutch-
for all your size, she held you up”….
The Spoils of War 