Canto, piango (translation below)

Hope you like it :)

Canto le impavide gesta 

del più coraggioso fra gli Dei.

Del temerario Tyr che la mano perse

nelle fauci di Fenrir per gli Asi.

Piango i pallidi costumi che oggi 

imperano nei cinque continenti,

l'antico coraggio è ormai scomparso,

codardi vivono gli uomini.

Canto le gesta dell'altissimo Odino

creatore di rune, signore dell'idromele

a un occhio rinuncio per un sorso

dalla fonte di saggezza da Mimir protetta.

Piango l'odierna ostentata ignoranza,

d'ogni fonte di sapere disponiamo:

libri, giornali, miti e poesie ma

li evitiamo e niente da questi impariamo.

Canto infine del figlio di Njord,

del più amato fra gli Dei, Freyr

che per l'amore di Gerdr volentieri

si privo della migliore delle spade.

Piango la morte del vero amore,

quello sincero, devoto e senza riserve

che unisce due anime in un abbraccio

e non due corpi in uno squallido atto.

TRANSLATION

Title: I sing, I cry

I sing the brave deeds 

of the boldest among the Gods,

the fearless Tyr who lost his hand

in the jaws of Fenrir for the Aesir. (*1)

I cry because of the pale morals (*2) that nowadays

rule in the five continents,

the old courage disappeared,

cowardly live the men.

I sing the deeds of the high Odin,

creator of runes, lord of the mead,

an eye he gave so he could get a sip

from the spring of Knowledge by Mimir protected. (*3)

I cry the current steady ignorance,

every source of knowledge we have:

books, newspapers, myths and poetry (*4) but

we ignore them and learn nothing from them.

I finally sing about Njord's son,

of the more loved of the gods, Freyr,

that for Gerth's love fain 

he got rid of the best of the swords. (*5)

I cry the dead of real love,

the honest, devoted and "second-thoughts-less"(*6) one

that gather two souls in a hug

and not two bodies in a squalid action.

 

Author's Note

I've just studied Eliot and his mythological method at school so I decided to give it a try using my favourite myhology, the viking's. I've put some (*) in the poem, so I could explain them here. If you have some knowledge about norse mythology, you won't need them, so just ignore this part.
(*1) Tyr belongs to the god family of the Aesir. The gods wanted to trap the wolf Fenrir (who's enough strong to destroy the world), so they dared him to let them chain him to see if he could set free, he accepted twice and break both chains, the third time, Fenrir asks for a proof they will set him free if he can't do it by himself, so Tyr put his hand in Fenrir's jaws. Fenrir got trapped and tear out Tyr's hand.
(*2) quotation from the roman writer Persio, the "pallentes mores" were constantly attacked by Persio in his writings
(*3) In Norse literature Odin is considered to be the creator of some of the runes and the one who stole the mead of poetry from the giants, they say the giant Mimir asked him an eye in order to let him get a sip of water from his spring, Odin accepted and gained a wide knowledge from that sip. He is also called "the high".
(*4) if we can compare myths to reality showing what's wrong in the latter (using the mythological method), myths become a source of knowledge. Poetry is considered a source of knowledge by basically all romanticists.
(*5) Freyr belongs to the God family of the Wanes, he's Njord's son. In norse mythology, it is said that Freyr gave his sword (that is able to fight without a swordsman) to his servant Skinir who helped him to meet Gerth, a giantess Freyr had fallen deeply in love with.
(*6) I'm sorry for the neologism, I just didn't know any known english word that fit well what i had said.

Reviews

[Sami Khalil]

A very good mythological write...Bravo..............

[Thomas Fitzgerald]

A well written and delightfully sequential, well done.

[Leslie Philibert]

This is impressive, backed up with learned notes.

[Inda]

Amazing, i could never do this effectively. Great job!!

[外人 (Gaijin)]

Thx =D i really appreciated it :)

[Coyote Poetry]

You a re a amazing writer. I like the Author's note. Helped with the understanding of the poem. I like your poetry. Always a lesson and a good journey in your words. Thank you for sharing the outstanding poetry.
Coyote

[外人 (Gaijin)]

Thank you for being such a great reader ! I love your reviews, my friend