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The Reckoning
Now the Age of Greed is ending,
now the reckoning is calling,
‘tis the eve of Fimbul Winter!
Three long years where summers vanish,
three long years of ice and snowfall,
three long years of frost and windstorm,
blowing over mankind’s folly,
sweeping clean his fields of battle.
Troll-born wolf, the Sun now swallows,
brother-wolf the Moon devours,
stars now tumble from the heavens;
sea now washes lands asunder,
wreaking havoc, drowning homesteads;
trees are torn as Earth now trembles,
rocks are broken, shattered fragments.
Dwarves now roar by doors of granite.
Down beneath the raging tempests,
Midgard Serpent stirs and rises;
sees with eye as cold as ice-floe
Naglfar, the Ship of Dead-men,
sailing by the blasted islands,
captained by the giant Hrymr,
seeking crew-men for his hosting,
soon will he the whole world sunder.
Now the Mighty Wolf advances,
gaping jaws from Earth to Heaven,
fire flaming from his nostrils.
From the gates of Hel, the watch-dog
Garm now howls like souls in torment.
Shaking mankind’s works to rubble,
Midgard Serpent blows forth venom,
poisoning the lands around him.
Here now come the Sons of Muspell,
led by Surtr, mighty warrior,
burning all before and after,
tearing down the Bridge of Bifrost ,
riding to the Field of Vigrid.
Loki waits with Hel-spawned champions,
sharpening his blade of fire,
Frost-demons stand at his calling.
Heimdall with his horn now rises,
summoning the gods to counsel;
Odin rides to Well of Mimir,
seeking oracle’s divining;
Comes he then with heroes’ army
from Valhalla ’s feasting benches;
Yggdrasil, the mighty ash-tree,
creaks and shakes with branches falling.
Out on Vigrid Field now Odin
battles with the Wolf of Terror;
Thor falls slain by Midgard Serpent,
Frey is killed by Surtr giant,
Garm and Tyr slay each the other.
Swallowed then is mighty Odin,
Vidarr though his friend avenges,
ripping out the Great Wolf’s gullet.
Heimdall and proud Loki battle,
killing each the other madly,
Chaos covers all the Earth then,
Surtr casts his raging fires
burning all the world before him.
Now the time of Man is over,
no more shall he spoil and ruin,
all is death and desolation
© Alan Hodgson