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"Honestly. I never intended to write a song that included the term, 'Blood-eagle' in it. Here it is anyway."--karen

lyrics

Berserker Song
words/music © Karen L.U. Kahan 2002

Chorus:
I say to the gods,
I have wedded this blade
and will take no other wife
I have bones for her bride-price
and a barrow for our bed
and the blood of our enemies
to dress us both in red.

It's hard to recall now
the man that I was then
returning from raiding
across the wide sea;
My heart full of pride and
our ship full of plunder,
I watched for the strand
where my stead watched for me.

We thought it was fog--
and that out of season--
that cloaked our fierce prow
and swallowed our wake.
But the thicker it grew,
the more it smelled of burning.
We pulled the oars then
till we feared they would break.

Chorus

We made groundfall;
it seemed a hundred years later.
When we could see clearly
we wished we were blind.
Our steadings were broken
and bloody and barren;
We knew from our raiding
what else we would find.

We wandered like wolves
through the ashes of kinsmen.
The crows mocked our howling
to long-deafened ears.
he stink of death sickened me
nigh unto retching.
We salted the earth of
our dead with our tears.

Chorus

Some say I'm mad now,
but I'm only enamored
of my new shining bride
and her face in the light.
She weeps that she's thirsty,
and I live to please her--
we search for her slaking
through day and through night.

Where a wraith goes,
only wind marks its passing,
but where a man goes,
a good bear-dog can track.
And I'll hound them until the last
wears the blood-eagle
carved like a lover's knot
deep in his back.

2x Chorus

credits

from selections from "I Have Wedded This Blade", released January 1, 2004

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Wyndreth/SavageDaughter/Shieldmaid Wisconsin

Karen Kahan has been writing and performing original works including Viking-Age Norse-styled music and poetry as Wyndreth Berginsdottir, Savage Daughter, and A Shieldmaid, since the early 90s.

Performing largely a capella and with as little processing as possible to capture the candid honesty of oral tradition, she invites you to close your eyes, imagine the great-hall, and listen.
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