Sir Gawain and the Green Knight - Drabble Challenge, part 5

[nightfox]

So, I picked up the gauntlet and accepted hermitknut's challenge to write a series of drabbles based off Simon Armitage's translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. This is 1 of 5 that I did for the challenge.
Each drabble was to be based off a four-line rhyme taken from the larger poem This is the fifth:
He bowed to take the blade
and bared his neck and nape
but, loathed to look afraid,
he feigned a fearless state.

His own hubris had brought him to this state and his native bravado would see him through. Swishing his hair about one last time, he imagined it was his lover’s lithe fingers drawing the long dark locks forward to fall over one shoulder.

He bowed his head, uncharacteristically solemn and offered his naked throat to the emerald edge that would no doubt sunder his soul from his body. He closed his eyes and summoned an image of the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen in his life. Merlin smiled at him as the axe whistled through the air.

Comments

[hermitknut.livejournal.com]

*shivers some more* Wonderful stuff :D

HK

[k-nightfox.livejournal.com]

Aww, thanks! This is actually the first one I wrote. I did them in reverse order, somehow that worked better for my brain. I think because the first rhyme seemed somewhat disjointed from the others. All in all, it was the second one that proved most problematic. It wanted to be longer and it was so hard to cut that one down.

I really enjoyed doing this, it's the first time I've ever written such concise pieces. I tend to be pretty wordy so I took this on knowing it would force me to keep things tight!

And...it was Gwaine! or Gawain, either way TV show or classic Arthurian, he has always been one of my very favorite knights.
(I <3 Galahad pretty hard too!)