Here I am : enemies : come and taste the steel of my sword The earth was still young and the land all new when it was forged Ore of the mountain towering wowards endless sky The runes down its blade the last thing you will see before you die In the spring we sailed from Asa Bay with wind and tide Twenty-nine in all we were : blood brothers side by side Down foreign coasts : across the ocean : wind would fill our sail High adventures : better to fall by the sword than to die from age or ail The emperor I served in Miklagard : grand guard was I Me and my brothers in gold were paid : on my sword I did rely Returning to Nordland by horse : ambushed were we And so here I am : come enemies : cornered with my back to the sea The ground beneath our feet all red awash with human blood
Severed limbs and bodies dead : prepare to meet thy God Shoulder by shoulder : knee by knee : blood brothers by my side Forgive me mother for missing the unseen blow that cut me down from behind All still : no more pain : the wind whispering my name This wound my last : the darkness around me seems vast Then a bright light I see : the clouds swirl and part before me In the distance a woman approaching : with a gesture she invites me to proceed Then a bronze horn I hear : it calls me : and the bridge seems to stretch for a lifetime Way before me a palace is rising : out of the mist : like a mountain it stands And it greets me with gates open wide : all around me blood brothers by my side And they show me the seat that bears my name : my place at the table of Oden I do claim