The Gods in Asgard seemed to sleep
Or turn their minds away
As Danish widows moan and weep
The Noki dance and sway
They sought to change the fate of men
To help their people win
The Christians they would curse them then
And call their craft a sin
They would not let just one witch live
For they must burn them all
They ask God’s love but can’t forgive
So answer Satan’s call
But Noki by the sea one night
Beneath a waning moon
Sought refuge in that second sight
They see before they swoon
In Bragi’s name through each refrain
They asked Skuld for that sight
Idu the Noki felt the pain
And then screamed out in fright
A bloody ghost of some dead slave
Embraced her as a friend
And he said that he now forgave
Those who had caused his end
“Your kind came here to take this land
You make the orphan slave
Is Danish doom now close at hand?
Noki can you be brave?
You are a part of our land now
And it’s a part of you
Gudrum by now has broke his vow
But Loki will be true!
True to the falsehood that’s his game
Deceit will be deceived
It matters not the names I name
For you’ll not be believed”
He held her hand through vistas grand
And showed her all men’s fate
“A future’s planned here in this land
The Danes may know too late
The Oak, the Ash, the Elm, and Yew
Grow tall on Albion’s isle
And what you view may well come true
Don’t waste your time with guile
The Norns dictate so know your fate
And to your gods be true
Then try some love as well as hate
Then I will lie with you
I’ll come in dreams and show you schemes
Of what kings plan to do
And right until the daylight beams
I’ll spend each night with you
The perfect prophet you will be
Until your dying day
Though you can share your dreams with me
Be wary what you say
For you’ve a curse the very worse
The Seer who is alone
For though you speak in prose or verse
No one will heed your tone”
Idu the Noki had a fit
Her mouth was wet with froth
On waking her hot brow was knit
She was frail as a moth
Though dark and deep she could not weep
The future she could see
But now in silence she must keep
Her tongue from being free
The elder Noki saw some signs
And felt a little grief
But in old age she now resigns
Locked in some disbelief
From thence on Idu slept a lot
And she’d smile in her sleep
As when she talked men called it rot
They now don’t hear her peep
And she and Sild walk through the years
The years that are to come
And Idu often shed some tears
But Idu had turned dumb
She saw the fall of all her Danes
And saw them rise again
She saw them on far distant plains
She saw and she knew when
She saw the things that Morchan saw
All those long years ago
She felt great winds quite cold and raw
And felt the summers glow
She met the Seers of future years
Not all would wear her gag
She shared the hopes, she shared the fears
She had no need to brag
The Norns gave Idu for a wife
To some “man from the sea”
She had a long contented life
For what will be will be
The gods of her place weren’t so dark
The wind, the wave, the tide
Her choices then were few not stark
In her dreams she could hide
From The Saga of Aelfrede and Gudrum