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~ Poetry by me ~
Fighter´s Farewell
Now at the last,
my luck has left me
as I knew well
that once it would:
long had I been
unbested in battle,
victories won
with Valfather´s will.
Weapons he gave me,
wits harder than iron:
strenght to the sword-arm, cunning for shield,
skill for the skirmish,
courage for strife.
Wisdom of words
gave Odhroerir´s owner;
sharper was found the blade of my mind
than my enemies´ arrows, and keener the edge
of my well-whetted tongue
than my foes´ bluntness.
Unharmed I went and unharmed returned,
to fields of contest
and hale to my home.
But the boons you bestowed
were yours to withdraw,
loan for a time,
gifts never mine.
While you were with me,
I worried never
nor needed to fear the fiercest of fights;
Now that you rise to ride against me
first time and last, all I give lost;
Lifeless my limbs, torpid my tongue,
stricken as one lightning has felled.
As a boat that was buoyed by treacherous waves,
when the weather turns wild,
is dragged to the deep,
Or a raven´s fair flight,
borne by the breeze,
is suddenly stalled
when the winds fail,
So my skills now forsake me,
fettered I stand -
© 2004 Michael L. Peters
a fish from the net,
a fox from the snare
would sooner escape
than one that you chose.
I will not turn
to hide from your face,
though hooded in shadows
as of storms´ clouds;
Death does reveal
what life had withheld:
your terrible beauty,
hard to behold.
Before you, I fall,
pierced by your gaze,
the gleam of your eye like the glint of your spear
seen only by those doomed to die soon.
This my last sight,
my star as I sink
down in the darkness
of its dread twin;
your blue cloak my shroud
as I pass into night
giving my life, yielding my soul.
© 2004 Michaela Macha
License: This poem may be freely distributed, provided it remains
unchanged, including the copyright notice and this License:
This work by
Michaela Macha
(www.odins-gift.com) is licensed
under a
Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives License.
Image: "The
Grey God (Odin)", ©
2004 Michael L. Peters, used by his kind permission.
Available as print at The Art of Michael L.
Peters.