Gjallarhorn Alliance Anthem

Remember the Teal Party? Well, when some of you expressed discomfort with the idea of following Odin into the fight against Global Warming, Heimdall kindly volunteered.

The premise behind this song is the identification of the jotnar (the Norse giants), with the spirits of elemental forces such as fire, frost, earth, wind and sea. So long as they remain in balance, all is well. But when the system becomes so disordered that only the destructive forces remain, the giants will march on Asgard to battle the gods and end this Age of the World.

In Muspelheim, Surt’s children (1)
Are stirring in their sleep.
In Himinbjorg, wise Heimdall (2)
Unending watch must keep.
For Midgard’s winds blow warmer,(3)
The threat’s becoming clear,
The Gjallarhorn blows softly, (4)
Can anybody hear?

The etins are uneasy, (5)
Now melts Bergelmir’s hall, (6)
The ramparts of the rime thurs, (7)
Begin to crack and fall.
And Aegir’s waves are rising, (8)
And Hraesvelg’s wild winds veer, (9)
The Gjallarhorn blows softly,
Can anybody hear?

Where Skadhi roamed the forest, (10)
Muspelli minions burn; (11)
The beasts forsake their ranges,
The birds do not return.
Where Nerthus’ crops once flourished, (12)
The earth lies bare and sere,
The Gjallarhorn blows softly,
Can anybody hear?

From Asgard’s heights, the Aesir, (13)
See lesser thurses rage,
And ask if they’re the heralds
Of the ending of the Age?
And will their masters follow?
Does Ragnarök draw near? (14)
The Gjallarhorn blows softly,
Can anybody hear?

Though Ymir’s blood may ebb and flow (15)
And Midgard bear his bones,
When this world’s weather alters,
What price the world we’ve known?
The gods call us to battle
For all that we hold dear,
The Gjallarhorn blows softly,
Can anybody hear?

Now soft, Ríg blows the Gjallarhorn, (16)
Around, his children crowd,
He calls us to delay the day
When he must blow it loud.
The gods call us to balance
The forces that we fear,
The Gjallarhorn blows softly,
And Heimdall’s children hear!

Notes:

(1) Muspelheim is the home of the Muspelli and the Sons of Surtr, the fire-giants. When they march, Ragnarok will begin.
(2) Heimdall is the watchman of the gods who guards the Bifrost Bridge.
(3) Heimdall will call the gods to battle at Ragnarok by blowing the Gjallarhorn
(4) Midgard is the world we live in
(5) etin is the Anglo-Saxon word for giant
(6) Bergelmir is the ancestor of all the frost giants
(7) rime thurses are frost giants
(8) Aegir is the jotun who rules the sea
(9) Hraesvelg sits in the north in eagle form and fans the winds with his wings
(10) Skadhi is a giantess who married into the family of the gods. She is associated with hunting and the wilderness.
(11) the Muspelli are lesser fire etins
(12) Nerthus is a goddess of the fertile earth and agriculture
(13) the Aesir are the Norse gods
(14) Ragnarok is the great war in which the gods will lose to the giants; Midgard will be destroyed, giving way to a new and different Age of the world.
(15) Ymir is the primal being who was dismembered by the gods and his parts recycled to create Midgard (our world). His blood became the seas, his bones the rocks, etc.
(16) Ríg is the name under which Heimdall wandered the world, begetting the different classes of humankind.