Cords - Edit 2

[dukealien]

Edit 1;

Cords

Women spun their distaff tufts
to spindle-whorls cast down
whipped ‘round with song from tuft to thread
and thread to string to cord:
a woman’s life one skein
from when she learned to spin until
the shroud her daughters wove her.

Men spun plaited slings of cord
stones trapped in bulging pockets
from which each whipping cast
released a singing bullet shot
for rabbit, wolf or foeman
dead or downed by stinging stone
each whirling shot an ending.

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@Richard - Thanks for your valuable critique.  I've addressed each of your criticisms in this edit, though not exactly as suggested in some cases (for example, colon instead of period:  the last three lines of S1 are meant to be dependent, but you're right, they should be separated).

Got the rabbits in, keyed by your confusion about why a slinger would shoot for food (the Balearics are lousy with them).

An irrelevant detail:  though feared throughout the ancient world as mercenaries - they could shoot further than a bowman, and as accurately - the men of the islands were known to be very peaceable with each other.  A cynic (or realist?) would deduce that it was well to be mild and respectful when any smoldering insult could result in a deadly shot from behind hedge or boulder.