The Song of Spears

From EastKingdomWiki

This is a tale of an Irish High King who met the Danish King of Dublin in battle. The Valkyries observing this battle chanted this song:

1. Far and wide	with fall of the dead
The warp [1] is stretched	and streams down blood
A spear-grey fabric	forms on the loom
Woof of warriors	we valkyries [2] fill
Binding and crossing	with blood-red weft
2. The web is woven	with warrior’s guts
Heads of the slain	serve as its weights
Heddle-rods are spears,	spattered with blood
The shed-rod is iron,	arrows its pegs;
With swords we beat	our battle web.
3. Hild [3] goes to weave,	and Hjorðrimul
Sanngrid and Svipul,	with swords brandished
Shields will shatter	and shafts will break
Biter of helmets [4]	harms the breastplates.
4. We wind, we wind	the web of spears [5]
As young war-king	has waged before
Forth shall we fare	where fray lies thick
And friend and foe	fix sword ’gainst sword
5. We wind, we wind	the web of spears,
Follow our king	to fierce battle
Men will see shields	shattered and bloody
Where Gondul and Gunn	guarded the thane
6. We wind, we wind	the web of spears,
Where the banners fly	of boldest men;
Our liege shall not lose	his life in this place
Valkyries decide	those slain on the field
7. Danes who were driven	from Dublin’s lands
Have now returned	to take their halls,
To claim this field,	a kingdom make:
Seafarers will hold	sway o’er the land
8. Brave Irish will see	an evil time
As fate decrees	they fall to strife
Doomed to die is	their doughty king
Folk leader will fall	in face of spears
9. Woven is the web,	war-place reddened
We have finished	our weaving here
Still is the loom	all stained and scarred
The skein garish	with gore of men
10. Now it is gruesome	to gaze around
As blood-red clouds	cover the sky
Clamor wardens	keen their war-songs
Far lands will hear	of fall of men
11. Chanted we well	the weird of the king
Anon we will sing	songs of victory
They who listen	may learn our words:
Speak this song to	spear-men after

© Dan Marsh

Footnotes

1. ↑ This poem is likening the battle to a loom. Woof, warp, weft, web, rods, etc, are all parts of a loom and are used as metaphors.
2. ↑ I simplified this line quite a bit. The original translated to “The women friends of Randver’s slayer.” Randver was killed indirectly by Odin, and his “women friends” are Valkyries.
3. ↑ All the proper names in this poem are the valkyries.
4. ↑ A kenning for “axe.” There seems to be some disagreement on how this line should be translated, a few of my translations had “hound of helmets,” while others just indicated a weapon.
5. ↑ The latter part of this line 'vefr darraðar' is apparently difficult to translate. I went with one common to Hollander and Cook, as it fits my version best. Poole, who is the most rigorous translator, indicates “spear” as a possibility, but he favors “pennant” as the most likely.