Ragnarök Poem by Nizar Sartawi

Ragnarök



We're born in the ice lands of Ragnarök*
neither complaining nor wailing
bearing sword and flames in our hands
we fight the ice and the Giants
and push away the colossal death.
The women who fly in the space -
to bear our dead to Valhalla** -
never come
Glory never dances in our eyes
The gods do not heal the wounds in our bodies
We drink no wine in the skulls of the enemies

*****

Ice and Giants march on
swords freeze in our hands
blood freezes in our veins
we drown in ice
After Ragnarök we turn into a block of ice

1975

(Translated from Arabic by Nizar Sartawi)

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* Ragnarök, in Norse mythology, was the predestined death of the Germanic gods. A three-year winter led to a final battle on the Vigrid Plain, where the gods and the frost giants fought the epic final battle. Ragnarök marks the end of the old world, and the beginning of the new, current world.
Many of the Germanic peoples believed that the same type of battle would again occur.

** Valhalla is the great hall of the heroic dead. Warriors who died in glorious battle wait in Valhalla until Ragnarök. Valhalla was the heaven of the Vikings - a large hall where wounds healed quickly and meat was readily available. A constant routine of fighting and feasting ensured that the warriors were at their physical peak when Ragnarök came.

Ragnarök
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Nizar Sartawi

Nizar Sartawi

Sarta, Palestine
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