To The Angels Alone

Marie Brennan

TO THE ANGELS ALONE

by Marie Brennan

They hear her prayers,
the faeries of her land:
        the bodachs and boobries and busy brownies,
        the cù-sìth and cat-sìth and baobhan sìth,
        the ghillie dhu in the green
        and the giol-daoram so small.
        The redcap stands ready to rend
        her enemies in twain,
        the trow to drag them under the hill;
        the kelpies and dunnies and each-uisge fight
        for the right to drown her foes.
        But the bean-nigh washes her gown in the stream,
        and the caoineag laments in the night,
        because her words are not for their ears—
on her knees she pleads,
Mary, captive Queen of Scots,
for angels and ministers of grace to defend her,
and they
do not
answer.

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Marie Brennan is a former anthropologist and folklorist who shamelessly leans on her academic fields for inspiration. She recently misapplied her professors' hard work to The Market of 100 Fortunes and The Waking of Angantyr. She is the Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy Award-nominated author of the Victorian adventure series The Memoirs of Lady Trent along with several other series, over eighty short stories, several poems, and the New Worlds series of worldbuilding guides; as half of M.A. Carrick, she has written the Rook and Rose epic fantasy trilogy. For more information and social media, visit linktr.ee/swan_tower.

To The Angels Alone can be found in Augur Magazine Issue 7.1.