Death And Resurrection Or Northern Soul

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 towards 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 that 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
Clouds go swirling, they 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