Category Archives: You Have Nothing Else

Stanza 23: Home

ᛟ byþ ofer leof æghwylcum men.
gif he mot ðær. rihtes and gerysena on
brucan on bolde bleadum oftast ᛬᛫

It is beloved to everybody
If we assemble there on what… More

Stanza 7: Gift

ᚷ gumena byþ gleng and herenys.
wraþu ⁊ wyrþscype ⁊ wræcna gehwam
ar and ætwist ðe byþ oþra leas ᛬᛫

For the people it is ornament and praise
Support and honor,… More

Translating Gifu

Gift giving was a big deal to the people of the Rune Poem. It was everything. They gave everything. It could be food or goods, but they loved ornament and anything old especially: gilded,… More

The Rune Poem is sung in a tempo that changes from time to time. You can find the beats and the rests between them in the stresses of the words in each stanza. Some move quickly like the adjacent… More

How to Banish Family

You can cut just about anybody out of your life. You already have, cut them dead. You’ve filled graveyards of disconnections. Good.

Regrettably you have always felt you cannot… More

Œ is for Œdipean Riddle

You live in the house of two mothers immersed:

One births the other and the other births the first.

… More

Gift Riddle

A lady gave me a gift she had not; And I received her gift I took not; She gave it me willingly and yet she would not; And I received it, albeit, I could not: If she give it me, I force not; And if she take it again, she cares not. Consider what this is, and tell not; For I am fast sworn I may not.

You possess me always but may touch me not,
Give me away for I’m all that you’ve got.

Though I am but one you may give me a lot,

Never fear that your gift will leave you with naught

… More

X≠Y≠Z: Z’s Lament

I can not explain why I’m now set adrift.
Was I such a pain? Was it part of a grift?
Whatever their reasons they’re not telling me:
I have no idea why I’m all at sea.

Why… More

You Have Nothing Else

Imagine yourself. Now imagine yourself 1500 years ago. Can you think like that? Think in Old English. There you go. Now you belong to a people who knew the Rune Poem backward and forward… More

I Sing This Wretched Song

I sing this wretched song, my full sorrow
Of my departure by myself, that I might speak
That I dwelt in destitution, since I grew up,
Newly until of old, no more than now,
Forever I suffered… More

Present

… More

G is for Go

It’s blinding when it happens. You didn’t see it coming. You did and you didn’t. The writing was on the wall, it was right there in your face and you were reading it… More

How to Summon an Angel

Good luck summoning an Angel because you will need it. You’ll need good timing as well because the two of you, or however many, speak entirely different languages from each other.… More

Rune Casting: Eþel

Has there been an injustice? A lie? Did some ugly thing happen and now everything’s a mess? Go home. Go home right now. Find your happy place. Are you there? Good. Now you can relax… More

Rune Casting: Gifu

Shoved out of the nest. Exiled in wretchedness. You have nothing else. You are not alone though, you’ll survive. Just. You have help coming to sustain you, a mercy, a gift. Help… More

ᛟ

O ᛟ, you shapeshifter. Once you signified all O sounds, until you slipped sideways and joined up with E. Twins you were, they spelled you two ways Œþel and Eþel, depending on what you… More

ᚷ

O ᚷ, you shapeshifter. You have a completely different character depending on whom you are with. Well we all know somebody like that. Chum up to the back vowels (back of tongue and soft… More

Alphybettyformed Verbage
A is always for apple. B is for a lot of stuff. Ball, bear, boat, banana, so many B things. Very early we learn from the one to the infinite is but a step.

The Old English Rune Poem is an alphabet book. It looks like an alphabet book, but like a modern alphabet book there’s infinitely more to it, if you look close. Every stanza of the poem describes a letter, a rune. In Old English the word rune means secret. The secret is these letters weren’t just for writing. In secret, when nobody was looking, people could carve the runes into bits of wood and cast lots with them. Find out their fates. Answer a few questions. Solve some problems. They could do this because each stanza of the Rune Poem, gives a little bit of wisdom, a little picture of life, sometimes a warning. Always in the form of a riddle. The Rune Poem is a collection of riddles that could divine the future.

This poem has another secret hidden in its folds that fascinates me. There’s a riddle in this collection of alphabet riddles, deep in its structure. Take the letters, cut them apart from each other, carve them into bits of wood if that helps you, and line them up in a row. Now fold your line in half so number 1 is next to 29, 2 next to 28, etc. Make the pairs and read them together. They match each other. They sing duets about light, renewal, a song of home and exile. A song of the water cycle. A beautiful weapon is one thing but a thorn can really hurt you. Some things are dependable. Everything is temporary. The runes sing these things to themselves in the mirror, duet by duet, until you get to the clue, the key to the secret, number 15 in the middle -- Helix, standing alone all twisted, singing we should twine this poem aound itself and look at it again.

-- Vern Tonkin

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