The Song of Creation

The storied wanderer speaks to this land, as sea spoke to sky:
An enchanter's song to name mighty powers, creating himself anew.
So with himself, all things are made again as before…

* * *
Before eye or ear, mouth or word,
The soundless chasm, the great radiance,
The alternation of darkness and light,
Summer growing day, winter returning night,
All coming to be: a lay of greatest power.

The story of many women in the waters,
The first of five holy kindreds,
Of the Woman of earth and water,
Daughter of the world,
Of her husband, white and old,
Son of the ocean deep.

Of the division of women to the corners of the land,
Of their re-gathering as the waters rushed forth again.
Of the journeys of people from beyond the waves,
Of oars and cattle,
Swords and spears, darkly sung tales of might:
The survival of memory, ancients recounting stories,
An old salmon thrashing, a hawk flying.

Dark and light, fire and water, summer and winter ice:
World; Ocean; Land and Rivers; the Ancient White Entity;
Waters and lands made different;
Waters overcoming; waters receding,
Conquerors crossing water; contests fought; songs of naming.

* * *
The naming of sky and earth,
Sun, moon and lake;
Rivers, many fruits,
Soaking rain,
Much wealth of sea,
Mouths, ears,
Eyes, treasures,
Feet, hands,
Warriors and storytellers,
Horses, swords,
Bright chariots,
Barbed spears,
Embossed shields,
Men's faces, women's faces,
Children running,
Dew, mist on rivers,
Stones on plains, sheen on leaves,
Day and night,
Ebb and flow…

* * *
One land and one Sovereign at its center, a hill of kings,
Five divisions fair, fivefold and two, upper and lower,
Lands and women of stories and eloquence,
Lands and women of contentions and strifes,
Lands and women of beehives and hospitality,
Lands and women of music and subtlety.
And the beings of under-stone and under-sea
Darkly holding the life of plenty in yielding soil
Rendered up in due season, from the hill woman's body.

* * *
Great honor to the people of the land, every one,
To every hill on which a fire blazes;
The shining courts, the halls and tables,
The heroes of boastful fame and sturdy arm,
The people of farms, of valley and dripping wood.

Great honor to the Sacred Knowledge,
And the people of sacred art-
Of poetry and remembrance, of sacrifices and law;
Honor to the people of strength and force,
Of peace preserved, of bloody fights;
Honor to the people of the fertile plain,
Of the fruits of peace, of plentiful herds.

Honor and fame to the Victorious Ones, the Long-Arm's host,
To their triumph over darkness, to their gallantry,
To the bonds they made with mortal women and men;
To their siring of heroes, their coming among villages,
The ever-young, ever-living Lords of the heavenly plains
Of royal dwellings under the hollow hills.
By their leave every art and every needful craft
And every good favor comes to man:
A generous flame to every hearth and peace in every breast.

* * *


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All Text, aside from given citations, is Copyright © 2009 by Cuan Maqq Beli
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