The Lay of Gangleri
Once in this world walked many wonders
Marvelous monsters and men who earned honor.
But oft have I heard of the old gods
the far travellers who once roamed these roads
No churl am I; ever cheer and charity
are hallowed here my hall and hearth.
Many men have sat at my mead-benches
and raised their horns to Odin Allfather
beside my warriors and the women.
Terrible in turmoil is my tribe;
We are furious when on the field.
But in peacetime, no king of the past
has given so graciously of rings and gold.
So when my men brought before my seat
a wizened old man, a blue hatted wanderer,
with silvered hair and a simple staff,
I harbored no hatred; he was brought a seat.
Until dawn would he dine and drink with us.
'Stranger,' said I, 'have now a horn,
and share with me your tales and travels.'
By my hearth-fire beneath his hat brim
I saw a single eye but I thought nothing.
Many a man has lost some of himself
while wending his way through the world.
The traveler took his share of the drink
and spoke soberly. 'I am known by many names;
but while I wander, call me Gangleri.
More travels have I than titles, more tales
have I than travels; I have walked the nine worlds,
and none in them know more than I do.'
Gangleri my guest closed his good eye,
drew in breaths deep into his breast.
Not I nor my men spoke any sounds;
no man in my hall was so deep in the cups
to not know him. His name was on our lips:
All knowing, all seeing, all-being, Allfather.
The Gallows God drank in my hall.
'Gangleri the Wanderer, gray-faced and grim,
why do you drink before me today?'
'In days of beginning, before the nine worlds,
stood frost blasted Ymir cruel and ice cold.
Allfather and his brothers Villi and Ve
slew that cold creature made Midgard from his clay.
Flesh into firmament, brains up above,
Blood into oceans, skull into sky;
This is the way in which they made the world.'
'Gangleri the Wanderer, gray-faced and grim,
why do you drink before me today?'
'The brothers' first visit in their high hall
Gullveig Gold-Seeker, who brought the gods ire.
Full of fierce fires, the gods burned her three times.
Three times did she live, and left then the hall,
to return to her people, a herald of war.
So the battle joined in Asgard between the gods;
Aesir and Vanir clashed with drawn swords.
The war continued until, both battle-worn,
the gods called a gathering and swore peace evermore.
To live with the Aesir came the sea lord Njord
along with his children Freyr and Freyja.
The Wanes gained Mimir wisest of gods
But they got the worse and cut his head off.
Allfather accepted and trusted Mimir to the Tree."
'Gangleri the Wanderer, gray-faced and grim,
why do you drink before me today?'
'Allfather's a seeker but such things take sacrifice.
He knows all the runes and each of the charms,
but he paid their price; no thing is without cost.
Nine days did he hang on the World Tree,
himself to himself, his side spear-pierced.
The High One in Valhalla, the one-eyed god,
is maimed in the body but greatest in the mind;
All things does he see from his high seat in heaven,
all things does he know the beginning to the end.
Odin Allfather is wisest of gods.'
Here did my guest look deep in his horn,
stared at his mead and somberly drank
tipping the drink down into his throat.
Silence reigned there in the dark of my home,
as we sat and wondered why Allfather would come.
'Gangleri the Wanderer, gray-faced and grim,
why do you drink before me today?'
'Have you heard tell of Baldr Light-Lord?
Most fair of the gods, brave and beloved.
So loved was he that his mother Frigg
made all things swear oaths never to harm him.
The Queen of the Gods extracted this pledge
throughout the nine worlds from all things but one:
the minute mistletoe, small and unnoticed;
this could harm no one, or so thought the gods.
Invulnerable to arms Baldr seemed safe.
The gods made sport of testing his skin.
Arrows and axe-heads did not scathe him;
sword-points and spears caused him to laugh.
All was good in Asgard, beneath Allfather's gaze;
Odin Allfather is wisest of gods.
'But Loki the liesmith, patron of tricksters,
hid hate in his heart for long past injustice.
He saw Baldr's brother, the blind god Hodr,
and placed in his hand a mistletoe dart.
"I'll guide your hand, to engage in the sport,"
said the lie-weaver and led Hodr to the game.
Hodr drew back and let fly the arrow:
there fell Baldr, most beloved of gods,
dead by his brother, thread cut short by the Norns.
Allfather knew that it was fated to happen;
Odin Allfather is wisest of gods.
'All this is past, but more is to come;
In Aegir's golden hall where gods drink sadly,
will come Loki's flyting, and his binding below.
Sigyn's bowl shall fill, and Loki shall feel
the sting of the serpent upon his bare eyes.
Baldr will be avenged when Hodr is slain
by Odin's son Vali, alive but one day;
beyond that is blackness, the axe and sword age,
where Ragnarok awaits and comes the gods' twilight.
Beyond that is more, but more I cannot say.'
'Gangleri the Wanderer, gray-faced and grim,
why do you drink before me today?'
The Hanged God arose, gripping his staff;
he finished his horn his stare hot by the hearth.
'Allfather knows all that arises in Midgard
from his high seat in Valhalla he sees
all things that are or ever will be.
Yet Allfather is maimed like those in Midgard.
The gods knows grief for their brother Baldr
who left lands of light never to return.
The plight and pangs of middle-earth men
belong also to Aesir and the Allfather.
But the gods also know that glory is gained
by men who live well and defy their doom
through their great deeds of courage and kindness.
Death comes to all who walk the worlds;
in the fate of man and god there is no shame.
In the end all things pass into the black;
shipped out unguided into the silent sea.
What shore we reach is known by no man.
What matters is life and the way that we live it.'
Gangleri nodded and went to the door
where darkness had deepened and chill winds blew.
'Ganglei I am, and so will I wander.
Thanks to you, thane, for sharing your seats.
The gods see great gifts and know they are good.'
With that the wanderer went into the wild
cloak blown behind him staff straight and tall.
When he was gone my still silent hall
looked around forlorn and sat in deep thought.
Then one by one we raised up our horns
and drank our mead thrice for Gangleri,
for gray-faced Grimnir, for Odin Allfather.
Hail be to Odin, the wisest of gods.
-1/26/2007
Marvelous monsters and men who earned honor.
But oft have I heard of the old gods
the far travellers who once roamed these roads
No churl am I; ever cheer and charity
are hallowed here my hall and hearth.
Many men have sat at my mead-benches
and raised their horns to Odin Allfather
beside my warriors and the women.
Terrible in turmoil is my tribe;
We are furious when on the field.
But in peacetime, no king of the past
has given so graciously of rings and gold.
So when my men brought before my seat
a wizened old man, a blue hatted wanderer,
with silvered hair and a simple staff,
I harbored no hatred; he was brought a seat.
Until dawn would he dine and drink with us.
'Stranger,' said I, 'have now a horn,
and share with me your tales and travels.'
By my hearth-fire beneath his hat brim
I saw a single eye but I thought nothing.
Many a man has lost some of himself
while wending his way through the world.
The traveler took his share of the drink
and spoke soberly. 'I am known by many names;
but while I wander, call me Gangleri.
More travels have I than titles, more tales
have I than travels; I have walked the nine worlds,
and none in them know more than I do.'
Gangleri my guest closed his good eye,
drew in breaths deep into his breast.
Not I nor my men spoke any sounds;
no man in my hall was so deep in the cups
to not know him. His name was on our lips:
All knowing, all seeing, all-being, Allfather.
The Gallows God drank in my hall.
'Gangleri the Wanderer, gray-faced and grim,
why do you drink before me today?'
'In days of beginning, before the nine worlds,
stood frost blasted Ymir cruel and ice cold.
Allfather and his brothers Villi and Ve
slew that cold creature made Midgard from his clay.
Flesh into firmament, brains up above,
Blood into oceans, skull into sky;
This is the way in which they made the world.'
'Gangleri the Wanderer, gray-faced and grim,
why do you drink before me today?'
'The brothers' first visit in their high hall
Gullveig Gold-Seeker, who brought the gods ire.
Full of fierce fires, the gods burned her three times.
Three times did she live, and left then the hall,
to return to her people, a herald of war.
So the battle joined in Asgard between the gods;
Aesir and Vanir clashed with drawn swords.
The war continued until, both battle-worn,
the gods called a gathering and swore peace evermore.
To live with the Aesir came the sea lord Njord
along with his children Freyr and Freyja.
The Wanes gained Mimir wisest of gods
But they got the worse and cut his head off.
Allfather accepted and trusted Mimir to the Tree."
'Gangleri the Wanderer, gray-faced and grim,
why do you drink before me today?'
'Allfather's a seeker but such things take sacrifice.
He knows all the runes and each of the charms,
but he paid their price; no thing is without cost.
Nine days did he hang on the World Tree,
himself to himself, his side spear-pierced.
The High One in Valhalla, the one-eyed god,
is maimed in the body but greatest in the mind;
All things does he see from his high seat in heaven,
all things does he know the beginning to the end.
Odin Allfather is wisest of gods.'
Here did my guest look deep in his horn,
stared at his mead and somberly drank
tipping the drink down into his throat.
Silence reigned there in the dark of my home,
as we sat and wondered why Allfather would come.
'Gangleri the Wanderer, gray-faced and grim,
why do you drink before me today?'
'Have you heard tell of Baldr Light-Lord?
Most fair of the gods, brave and beloved.
So loved was he that his mother Frigg
made all things swear oaths never to harm him.
The Queen of the Gods extracted this pledge
throughout the nine worlds from all things but one:
the minute mistletoe, small and unnoticed;
this could harm no one, or so thought the gods.
Invulnerable to arms Baldr seemed safe.
The gods made sport of testing his skin.
Arrows and axe-heads did not scathe him;
sword-points and spears caused him to laugh.
All was good in Asgard, beneath Allfather's gaze;
Odin Allfather is wisest of gods.
'But Loki the liesmith, patron of tricksters,
hid hate in his heart for long past injustice.
He saw Baldr's brother, the blind god Hodr,
and placed in his hand a mistletoe dart.
"I'll guide your hand, to engage in the sport,"
said the lie-weaver and led Hodr to the game.
Hodr drew back and let fly the arrow:
there fell Baldr, most beloved of gods,
dead by his brother, thread cut short by the Norns.
Allfather knew that it was fated to happen;
Odin Allfather is wisest of gods.
'All this is past, but more is to come;
In Aegir's golden hall where gods drink sadly,
will come Loki's flyting, and his binding below.
Sigyn's bowl shall fill, and Loki shall feel
the sting of the serpent upon his bare eyes.
Baldr will be avenged when Hodr is slain
by Odin's son Vali, alive but one day;
beyond that is blackness, the axe and sword age,
where Ragnarok awaits and comes the gods' twilight.
Beyond that is more, but more I cannot say.'
'Gangleri the Wanderer, gray-faced and grim,
why do you drink before me today?'
The Hanged God arose, gripping his staff;
he finished his horn his stare hot by the hearth.
'Allfather knows all that arises in Midgard
from his high seat in Valhalla he sees
all things that are or ever will be.
Yet Allfather is maimed like those in Midgard.
The gods knows grief for their brother Baldr
who left lands of light never to return.
The plight and pangs of middle-earth men
belong also to Aesir and the Allfather.
But the gods also know that glory is gained
by men who live well and defy their doom
through their great deeds of courage and kindness.
Death comes to all who walk the worlds;
in the fate of man and god there is no shame.
In the end all things pass into the black;
shipped out unguided into the silent sea.
What shore we reach is known by no man.
What matters is life and the way that we live it.'
Gangleri nodded and went to the door
where darkness had deepened and chill winds blew.
'Ganglei I am, and so will I wander.
Thanks to you, thane, for sharing your seats.
The gods see great gifts and know they are good.'
With that the wanderer went into the wild
cloak blown behind him staff straight and tall.
When he was gone my still silent hall
looked around forlorn and sat in deep thought.
Then one by one we raised up our horns
and drank our mead thrice for Gangleri,
for gray-faced Grimnir, for Odin Allfather.
Hail be to Odin, the wisest of gods.
-1/26/2007