Sea Song
"The Sea Swallows All in the End"
By Maia Hall
By Maia Hall
O, I’m off to raid the southern lands
In a ship that soars across the sea
By wind in sail or oars in hands.
Rhímsa’s* realm holds no fear for me!
O, my sweetheart stood so sad on shore
When I kissed her honeyed lips farewell.
It broke my heart to leave my adored,
But riches lie o’er the salty swell!
O, for sailors waits the cruelest doom
That Skanra’s** woven on her loom.
O, death is a rift you can never mend.
The sea swallows all in the end.
O, Rhímsa’s wrath is a fearful sight:
Amidst monstrous waves and pounding rains,
‘Neath a sky as black as endless night,
The sudden storm split my ship in twain!
O, how I fought the water’s pull,
Against slipping into silent sleep.
But all my efforts came to null:
My bones lie in the darkest deep!
O, for sailors waits the cruelest doom
That Skanra’s woven on her loom.
O, death is a rift you can never mend.
The sea swallows all in the end.
O, my soul lights Rhímsa’s drafty hall,
Where are made both the thrall and king
But pale, flick’ring flames that line the wall.
The drowned and dead, our cold voices sing:
“O, for sailors waits the cruelest doom
That Skanra’s woven on her loom.
O, death is a rift you can never mend.
The sea swallows all in the end.
O, the sea swallows all in the end!”
*Rhímsa: the goddess of the sea
**Skanra: the goddess of Fate