Original
passage from The Prose Edda, by Snorri Sturluson. “The Fooling of Gylfe,
Chapter XVI Ragnarok,
Then
happens what will seem a great miracle, that the wolf devours the sun, and this
will seem a great loss. The other wolf
will devour the moon, and this too will cause great mischief. The stars shall be Hurled from heaven. Then it shall come to pass that the earth and
the mountains will shake so violently that tree will be torn up by the roots,
the mountains will topple down, and all bonds and fetters will be broken and
snapped. The Fenris-wolg gets
loose. The sea rushes over the earth,
for the Midgard-serpent writhes in giant rage and seeks to gain the land. The ship that is called Naglfar also becomes
loose. It is made of the nails of dead
men; wherefore it is worth warning that, when a man dies with unpared nails, he
supplies a large amount of materials for the building of this shop, which both
gods and men wish may be finished as late as possible. But in this flood
Naglfar gets afloat. The giant Hrym is its steersman. The Fenris-Wolf advances with wide open
mouth; the upper jaw reaches to heaven and the lower jaw is on the earth. He would open it still wider had he room. Fire flashes from his eyes and nostrils. The Midgard-serpent vomits forth venom,
defiling all the air and the sea; he is very terrible, and places himself by
the side of the wolf.
Turned to poetic form, keeping original text and punctuation.
Then
happens what will seem a great miracle,
that
the wolf devours the sun,
and
this will seem a great loss.
The
other wolf will devour the moon,
and
this too will cause great mischief.
The
stars shall be Hurled from heaven.
Then
it shall come to pass
that
the earth and the mountains will shake
so
violently that tree will be torn up by the roots,
the
mountains will topple down,
and
all bonds and fetters will be broken and snapped.
The
Fenris-wolf gets loose.
The
sea rushes over the earth,
for
the Midgard-serpent writhes
in
giant rage and seeks to gain the land.
The
ship that is called Naglfar also becomes loose.
It
is made of the nails of dead men;
wherefore
it is worth warning that,
when
a man dies with unpared nails,
he
supplies a large amount of materials
for
the building of this ship,
which
both gods and men
wish
may be finished
as
late as possible.
But
in this flood Naglfar gets afloat.
The
giant Hrym is its steersman.
The
Fenris-Wolf advances with wide open mouth;
the
upper jaw reaches to heaven
and
the lower jaw is on the earth.
He
would open it still wider had he room.
Fire
flashes from his eyes and nostrils.
The
Midgard-serpent vomits forth venom,
defiling
all the air and the sea;
he
is very terrible,
and places himself
by the side of the wolf.
My Poetic Interpretation of the Passage
At
the end of days,
Mercy
shall pour,
As
the snarling fangs devour light
All
dreams destroyed in darkest night
Stars
collide.
Fall. Dead.
Empty.
Void.
And
so the storm shall feel
As
if long past.
Survivors,
all whom remain,
Will
kiss the ground in thanks,
But
lips shall first feel
The
bubbling cracks below
The
violent tremors break
Unleashing
beast below
Prompting
a universal flood
Drowning
Souls
saved
Briefly
by
Boatman’s
ride
Yet
beast grows
Constricts
the orb
Spitting
out what
It
cannot hide
In
belly
Craving
Pathways
blocked
And
extraction
Of
the soul commences
By
serpent tongue
Siding
with the
Frenzied
beast
Reborn
From
beneath
The
dead.
D'Verse is open and serving up a dose of prose to poem this week for Meeting the Bar. I thought it an interesting challenge, but I didn't know where to begin. So I grabbed the first book near me, but that was a topology book, and figured nobody really wanted to hear me write on that:) So I turned my head and saw my books on myth, but none seemed to urge my getting up from the computer chair. So I delved into Ibooks and found that version of The Prose Edda staring at me. It took a couple minutes to find a passage not smothered in hard-to-pronounce names, but I found one, and it just so happened to be about Armageddon, or as they call it Ragnarok. I may have alluded to a bit of information not presented in this passage, but not that much, if at all. Just a piece of that chapter, perhaps longer than intended, but I found this exercise fun, and didn't want to leave the piece hanging mid passage. It was different for sure, but different is good.
