Terms of
Use
Submissions
~ By Courtesy of Others ~
In Charlemagne’s Shadow
Standing in the shield wall
Watching the enemy come
Many times our number
Ranks in lockstep marching
They are clad in king-given iron
They bear sword and axe and spear
Our own make do with leather
And seldom more than spears
I stand beside my neighbours
In the place I expect to fall
Behind me march my good wife
Our children and chattles all
No retreat will save them
No life for me without
The rage it burns inside me
Until Odin’s name I shout
In rage I lunge full forward
Towards the war-line of the foe
No thought but bright red slaughter
And not alone I come
No neighbour would desert me
To let me fall alone
My chieftain’s son beside me
Seeking ever for the van
A people meet an army
The raven’s feast is served
Wolves will fill their bellies
On the wreckage of shield din
Few enough will tell it
The glories of the dead
Of a the freedom loving farmers
And the field they watered red
The army line was broken
When the chieftain’s son won through
A dozen spears they pierced him,
But his fury won us through
It was one for one they cost us
Until their courage broke at last
Then a mighty slaughter
Did we work upon their backs
Freedom loving farmers
And the minions of the king
Laid the raven’s feasting
To win a season’s peace
© John T Mainer
This work by John T Mainer is licensed
under a
Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives License.
The Freyr's
Press of the
Heathen Freehold Society of BC:
Kindertales and
Kindertales
2
by John T Mainer et al.