In 2018,  I did four months work as an editor on the Elizabeth MacDonald play script "Skirting Heresy" mainly adding several existing songs from a previous play of mine you'll find on the Peacock's album https://peacocks-tale.bandcamp.com/album/a-mass-of-carols-for-margery and collected on the original Penland Phezants musical score  https://thepenlandphezants.bandcamp.com/album/songs-for-skirting-heresy-the-life-and-times-of-margery-kempe 
I also wrote a new epic lyric quoting the title of the play as a refrain which - to a magnificent upbeat folk tune by Andy Wall - the Phezants performed over the curtain call. In it, I tried to write a stand-alone story that would sum up the remarkable woman's life to someone new to Margery but also interest someone more informed. The lyric was long and the music Andy wrote for it didn't stint itself either so the final track clocked in at a mammoth eight minutes, longer even than the curtain call for over 70 people.  The missing verses are below in brackets. Andy's lovely folk performance with the Phezants is on the Phezants album link above. This version features the three other performers on that track, notably Vanessa's beautifully measured harp, taking it somewhere sadder and kookier.


('Born before your time
It would take an eternity
To redress their abyss,
Skirting heresy.

'They would fetter your soul
With wedlock-maternity,
Apron and stain,
Skirting heresy.

'You fore-saw what the spirit
Of a woman could be
And clothed your flesh in it,
Skirting heresy.'

'In the arms of your soul
You may take me as boldly
As a good wife her spouse,'
Skirting heresy.

The sun of love in your heart
Burns so hot and fiercely
It scares you to life,
Skirting heresy.

'This vestment of heat
Is the heat of the Holy.
It will burn away your sins,'
Skirting heresy.)

Magic water, magic sky,
What land appears to be,
Shift across your vision -
Skirting heresy.

On Lynn's ebb and flow,
Dock and dreaming friary
Unravel like wool -
Skirting heresy,

As England revolts
In Plague and Lollardy,
Old habits cleave -
Skirting heresy.

Margery of Lynn - author, pilgrim, mystic -
Saw things that weren't there, spoke heresy
But the Heresy She Spoke and the Things That Weren't There
Were a vision of a future reality.

The Lord Jesus spoke to her like a Song in her heart:
Andy only:
'Though a menace to churchmen, you’re a mystic to me,
There is none so pure as the mother who gives
This world to so many and her soul to me.

Your unsung fishwife Word,
Your un-nun livery,
Your Magdalene hair-shirts,
Skirting heresy,

Chat to God without a priest;
As His Mother in Galilee,
Nurse and feed Him like a Babe,
Skirting heresy,

In the dance of the Hanse,
Out of step, off the quay,
Walk on water like the sun,
Skirting heresy.

Margery of Lynn - author, pilgrim, mystic -
Saw things that weren't there, spoke heresy
But the Heresy She Spoke and the Things That Weren't There
Were a vision of a future reality.

The Lord Jesus spoke to her like a Song in her heart:
'Though a menace to churchmen, you’re a mystic to me,
There is none so pure as the mother who gives
This world to so many and her soul to me.

Skirting heresy.

Gaz - lead and harmony vocal, bass, harmonium, tabla
Maz - vocals
Vanessa Wood-Davies - harp
Pic is of Maz playing Margery at Elsing Church, Norfolk.
 
from A Mass of Carols For Margery, released December 25, 2022
https://peacocks-tale.bandcamp.com/album/a-mass-of-carols-for-margery

Skirting Heresy (featuring Vanessa Wood-Davies, harp)

A marriage (and we are actually married, 45 years so far) of melody and rhythm. We do folk, indie, Americana, Norfolk noir, beat poems &  ghazals. Traditional tunes with contemporary beats. Music videos  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCb8wV0-DNiFs1R5G2VSytBQ
Maz lead & harmony vocals, acoustic guitar. Gaz vocals, voice, bass, drums & percussion, harmonium, recorders, lyre harp, field recordings.

New tracks tagged #skirting heresy