7,000 Steps

• Posted by Borommakot September 10, 2014 - 1,445 views

  My first assignment for my British Literary History class this semester was to write a poem in the style of the Anglo-Saxons, so I decided to make a nod to the Nords.  I took a few small liberties for drama and brevity's sake, since I don't expect the professor or the class to recognize the source material.

  ~~~
  

  The 7,000 Steps

  Humble homesteadings   in haze sits Ivarstead

  The footstool and gateway   to the howling peak,

  the Throat of the World   where dwell Voices never silenced.

  Only the prepared pilgrim   will see the heights.

   

  The sky-road is long,   the path is wild

  Not carefully kept, but free   untamed by any save the wind-caller

  who made the way.   Does Jurgen’s departed hand

  keep clear the stair   for the help of pilgrim feet?

  Or do the traveler’s own treads   dispel the snow and shrub?

   

  A fearless few can forget   and ignore the lost

  who ascended the steps   and returned no more.

  Their fates, only the   earth-temple will ever know,

  for the sacred sights of the summit   are never voiced or spoken.

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