Taking a moment to indulge myself and play with music, memory, and the macabre. I write poetry in veneration of the divine (as I understand Her) and for spellcraft and ritual. A bit like painting with words.

This murder ballad is sung by Emily Portman, who calls it “Two Sisters”. I love this version pretty hard core (though heavily edited here, by me) and I seriously recommend Emily Portman’s albums (“Hatchlings”, “The Glamoury”, and “Coracle”) - all dealing with fairy tale, mythic, or folkloric content…often very macabre and always lonely and strange.

This song is a version of Child Ballad #10 and #8 on the Roud Folk Song Index, variously called “Minnorie”, “The Cruel Sister”, “The Wind and Rain”, “The Twa Sisters”, “The Bonny Swans” etc etc etc… It appears in other cultures and language and it bears a certain resemblance to the (very very old) fairy tale “The Singing Bones” and other such murder/otherworldly retribution narratives.

Some modern renditions of this song that I also love are Tom Waits’ “Two Sisters” and Julie Fowlis (ft. Eddie Reader) “Wind and Rain”.

Surprisingly, the wikipedia article seems a decent place to start if you’re interested in the background on this ballad - it even lists examples of field recordings! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Twa_Sisters

The poems “I Breathe the Quiet Mists of Time” and “When Great-Mother Hears Her Poison-hearted Child” are by me as are all the drawings and photography featured. I posted the text of these poems on Instagram closer to when I wrote them, for those interested.

~ Sorsha