The account of Vidar and Vali, his brother, sole survivors of the Battle of the Bifrost
lyrics
Vidar:
It’s so cold here
Everyone has gone
There are no men
Of valor
And if there were
I would not be
Counted among them
The Brothers:
Among them
Oh wisdom of my father
Oh beauty of my brother
Vidar:
Strength to carry on
Is all gone
There is no power
Left here in my bones
It’s been stolen from me
The Brothers:
From me
Oh what vengeance is there-
Vidar:
When there are none to avenge?
And all enemies are dead
The wolves have been released
The mighty gods laid low
I bring my strength to bear
The violence still undone
I hold the blood-caked jaw
Yet weep this rueful flow
The Brothers:
Oh
Mem’ry
My
Refuge
Vidar:
Where has truth gone?
Where is wisdom?
Poisoned, ravaged
Razed the heavens
The Brothers:
My
Homeland
Now
Ashes
Vidar:
Who is there now to recall
The deeds of either god or man?
The poet’s tongues have been reduced
To dust that shall not sing again
And I cannot recall the voice
Of wisdom that was once so sure
For thought and mem’ry fail me now
Those bastard children, dead of war
All our strength in vain
Every labor washed away
Justice has been brought to naught
Chaos
Every grace I have
Is formed for destruction
Who am I to restore anything?
I am without
The hands of the builder
I was never born to be king
Where has truth gone?
Where is wisdom?
Poisoned, ravaged
Razed the heavens
Can you tell me,
Sing a song,
Of any goodness
That could come?
The violent hour that was fated approaches
Vali:
Every light has died
Vidar:
The burning shadows of the enemy are growing
Vali:
All will end in ice
The Brothers:
This dying tree of life
Will not provide us shelter
Vidar:
Everything that is
Will be a sacrifice
To nothing
Everything
I thought was
Eternal now has ended
The sacred
The sovereign
So easily discarded
These wasted fragments
Of the glory that has faded
This land a withered husk
Shall be obliterated
The scalding blade of ruin
These night-black treach’rous flames
No suture could yet bind
This gore, this deepest wound
Gone is the order known
The outer darkness reigns
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