Kevin Crossley-Holland
Two Anglo-Saxon Riddles
Riddle 23
I'm a fair creature fashioned for battle;
wob's my name, if you work it out.
When I bend, and shoot a deadly shaft
from my stomach, I desire only to send
that poison as far away as possible.
When my lord, who devised this torment for me,
releases my limbs, I become longer
and, bent upon slaughter, spit out
that deadly poison I swallowed before.
No man's parted easily from the object
I describe; if he's struck by what flies
from my stomach, he pays for its poison
with his strength—speedy atonement for his life.
I'll serve no master when unstrung, only when
I'm cunningly notched. Now guess my name.
Solution: 23 - Bow
poetrymagazines' note: With acknowledgments to The Mountains of Norfolk: New and Selected Poems and The Exeter Book Riddles by Kevin Crossley-Holland, both published by Enitharmon.
Page(s) 283
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