This original song is a tragic ballad for Morgan le Fay, touching on some of the famous events and characters from the Arthurian myth cycle from Morgan’s point of view.
My Morgan begins bitter, angry that she is treated as a villain by the ‘heroes’ who have wronged her. By the song’s end that anger is replaced with grief, and a rejection of the narrative that this was the end she sought.
This piece was heavily influenced by Sir Thomas Mallory’s Le Morte d’Arthur, Marion Zimmer Bradley’s The Mists of Avalon, and the song Mordred’s Lullaby by Heather Dale. It is part of a larger cycle of Arthuriana I am building, focused on the emotional experiences of individual women in the myth. In performance, Morgan’s Lament is followed immediately by the singer (as Morgan) leading three other ladies in the the Lament of the Four Queens.
Morgan’s Lament
Godless, child of darkness,
This they call me and curse my name,
Sorceress, wicked traitor,
But who among them is without blame?
And all forgive the sins of Uther
Who with the loyal Gorlois broke trust;
For who could resist his young bride’s beauty,
Who could choose honor when tempted by lust?
And all forgive the sins of Merlin,
And all his meddlesome matchmaking;
That cuckholded and destroyed my father,
All that Pendragon might sire a king.
Faithless temptress,
This they call me and cursed my name,
Villainess, wicked traitor,
But who among them is without blame?
And all forgive the sins of Lancelot,
My brother’s foremost and favorite knight;
For when a King grants you every privilege,
Why not also take his wife?
And all forgive the sins of Guinevere,
The fickle beauty my brother wed,
For who could choose between such heroes,
Why not bring them both to bed?
Shameless, seductress
This I call her and curse her name,
Adulteress, wicked traitor,
Yet she would lay with me all blame.
For she forgives the sins of Arthur,
Who with his own dear sister lay,
For surely he was ensnared, entangled,
Enchanted by Morgan le Fay.
But none forgive the sins of Morgan,
Who bore the child that she could not,
That uncanny, cruel, and cunning creature,
She has no place in Camelot.
Heartless enchantress,
This you call me and curse my name,
Murderess, wicked traitor,
But who among you is without blame?
And, now my son rises to glory,
Hungry for his father’s crown;
The peace is broken, and lo, my brother,
From his high throne has been cast down.
So swords in hand they face each other,
Then struck, my son falls, and is still,
His father, bloodless, lies beside him,
How can you think this was my will?