Hoist up the sail
Catch the suns
And we will fly through
the ocean of stars.
Across the yawning void
Heed the ancestors call
As we see what we hear and we haul
We will capture the light
On this vast sea of night
And we’ll rule the ocean of stars.
From the wreck of the world
Came the embers and sparks,
The star-way that called
From the deep night
They heard Heimdall’s horn
Echoing Past the blood-star
Breaking earth’s forges
And ushering hordes
Within Ymir’s broad skull
Our cinder from heaven
Vile frost giants took
Down from the sky
# # #
But Thor built the hearth ship
And we left the cloud halls
Thrust by swift lightning
And our wind-oars.
Shot through Loki’s arm ring
And infinite spaces
Lead the bright wave-flame.
To uncharted seaas
Past the time markers
lands old as the Niflheim
As völven sing tales
And Seiðr songs (sadyr)
# # #
The shamed Midgard serpent
Is too small to follow
Above the world tree
Flame-shields abound.
fields of prism and ice
Are seldom that barren
Oft laden with wealth
We’ll not ignore
We pillage the planets
That have no defenses
We take land and liege
In our shield storm.
# # #
We long sailed by Asgard
Past Oðinn’s Steed growing
Forty-two rivers
And Freya’s hens
We found our Valhalla
As have generations
On a lightning path
Beneath the wind cloth.
So follow the old ways
Of cattle and kinsmen
Steer to the mead hall
And cast down runes.
Space. Vikings.
Vikings escape Ragnarok in solar ships. I constructed the “hearth-ship” as an “ark” of sorts and “Loki’s arm-ring” I envisioned as a jumpgate. The explorers move past all that’s known. The idea of Valhalla being found by spending eternity battling and pillaging throughout the entire universe is not a bad one.
This started out as a pretty easy concept, (actually, it started as me singing in the car randomly last week) but it got more complicated because I realized that I wanted to know more about ancient Norse cosmology and what the ancient Norse saw in their skies as I fleshed out the lyrics.
So that wound up being a rabbit hole. That said, I like this concept of the Norse leaving Midgard on the cusp of Ragnarok, thanks to Thor (because space ships are like thunder and lightning!) I envision the vessels having enormous golden solar sails and beautiful metalwork.
In Norse astronomy researchers have found some relatively consistent references that lead us to names of constellations. “Freya’s Hens” is the Pleiades. (Orion’s belt was “Freya’s Distaff.”) Mars, being red, was referred to as the “blood star” (So. Viking!) The yawning void is “Ginnungagap” – the primordial void mentioned in the Gylfaginning. Yggdrasil, the cosmic world tree, translates to “Oðinn’s Steed” according to the Hávamál. Another nod to the Hávamál is the “cattle and kinsmen” line that refers to the famous lines in verses 75-79, “Cattle die kinsmen die all men are mortal. Words of praise will never perish nor a noble name…” Forty-two rivers are the Hvergelmir referenced in the Prose and Poetic Eddas by Snorri Sturluson in the 13th century. These rivers, located in Niflheim, lead everywhere from Hel to the homes of some of the Norse gods.
The völven were like oracles/priestesses gifted with the sight of the future (kinda) and seiðr are magic incantations.
The kennings are mostly historic:
Ymir’s skull – that’s the sky that surrounds Midgard
star-way – a twist on the swan-road
Flame-shield / Cinder from heaven/sky cinder – the sun
cloud-halls – the sky
wave-flame – gold (the color of the solar sails 😉 )
wind-oars / wind cloth – a ship’s sails
shield storm – battle
And that’s where we are on the ocean of stars!