I'm alone, no hearth or home
From the cradle to the grave
No sensation save the chill of wind and stone
It's nothing new
My life's a wandering stream
Flowing towards an empty dream of something true
Cold steel ever at hand
This life's a lone lament
Sung upon a fundament of shifting sand
Where I go, I don't know
Can't you see my will is not my own?
The cockerel crows; A fell wind blows
And once again this world has shattered my repose
Warmth and mirth; Sense of worth
All decried, all denied by birth
No love bestowed; Just open road
A warrior’s life of endless strife doth bode
And thus I stand: Son of man
Against the horde, blooded sword in hand
On my own, answers unknown
The riddle of my life
Like a poisoned knife
Torments me to the bone
What have I been?
Through battles do I sweep
Having known no rest, no sleep
Like other men
What of my will?
Am I naught but flesh and rage
Played upon this earthly stage
To rend and kill?
As they intend: my will bends
No direction but that given by the winds
But in the night, a golden light
And, perhaps, at last a respite from my plight
Can it be? A place for me?
Uncoerced, I slake my thirst I’m free
With warmth in breast, and feet at rest
Redoubled, I, my troubles I divest
At last I know the hearthstone’s glow
Brief surcease, a place of peace but NO!
With loathsome sound
Of flames unbound
In mindless rage
They raze my refuge down
My sanctum found
My fate brought ‘round
Leaving nothing more
Than ashes on the ground
Solo by Lars
On tongue of snake
Which lies bespake
With troubled brow
This solemn vow I make
By bodies rent
And bloodlines spent
In death’s embrace
From sword and mace descent
To gods unprayed
And lives unmade
By lovers loathed
And broken oaths betrayed
By lightning’s flare
And balefire’s glare
‘Neath sundered sky
With thunder’s cry, I swear
Down! I lay my quest down!
Through ice and fire have I passed
In old suns’ deathlights have I basked
‘Though woes were many, troubles vast
No quarter given - none was asked
Adrift in life, lashed to the mast
Bereft of future, stripped of past
Through hellish suffering unsurpassed
To lies and falseness, I held fast
By gods and men, I swear at last
Perdition’s flame, to thee I cast
These faceless torments, all unmasked
Abandon, I, this earthly task
I lay my quest down!
