As frigid winds
whip at the skin of the neck;
as banners shreds
hang limp so that paid be respects.
Though to dryness runs
the coursing westward stream,
a light yet burns
there where stands the refuge forged in dream.
Gaze back o’er the blackened plains;
gaze back o’er the endless grey
left in our wake…
left in our wake…
Bones chilled to the marrow, ours;
bones snapped ‘neath our palid scars
that sear the jaw…
that sear the jaw
We’ve long since fled…
(‘twas we who abandoned our posts…)
Kindle again
that blaze we forsake at the coast.
Unto our kin
let us bow down and humble ourselves:
fidelity.
Let the hearthfires burn!
Let them burn until the end of days!
Not the bite of the frost,
not the thousands we’ve lost
extinguish their splendour;
let the hearthfires burn!
Let the Hearthfires burn!
Let them burn until the end of days!
Thirty seasons of rime have we
lain ‘midst the night,
bones aching for quarter;
let the hearthfires burn!
And glowing tides
wash o’er the faces of ash.
And warming blaze, lit within,
pours on backs having met with the lash.
The sanctum now attained,
and quietude regained,
eternal slumber takes hold
and no more the tundra to uphold.
Bear this as a beacon high,
Bear this as the flame divine
Lit by the gods…
Lit by our gods…
Ne’er shall the fanatic hordes,
Ne’er shall the loathsome ‘lords’
Defile our (thing)…
Ne’er to defile!
We’ve so long yearned
for respite from the dead and the chill,
and here bestowed
a loyalty ne’er to bend by their will.
Unto our kin
let us bow down and humble ourselves:
pledge fealty.
In our hearts do we know
that ne’er deprived us your glowing embers
those gallant tenders to flame:
fore’er in song to exhalt their names!