The Warrior's Song

Come near to me
and I will tell
of the things I have done and seen.

I have taken hold of rams
and brought them to the ground.
When a ram confronted me,
I chased him; I ran
and took hold of his horns
and threw him to the ground.

I have sat astride a horse-
a male horse, and been thrown
from his back.
He threw me to the ground,
and I struck him.
I struck him, and straddled him
once more.

I stood in a field naked
in a snowstorm,
utterly exposed.  I stood exposed
in the snow without any clothes
and did not succumb.

I am a wolf
I am an eagle
I am a bear in the cold wind.

I am man,
and I will not submit
to the oxgoad.
I will not be harnessed
to a plow.

I have climbed a mountain,
and drank from a mountain spring,
and I will not be broken.

The Mountain Bride

On a peak 'cross the bay
ten miles or more
on a mile-high peak
the snow drifts la-zi-ly

In a sheer, shimmery sheet,
lifted up off the peak
where it lay;
lifted high on the wind,
filling up like a sail-
on the high lofty wind
in a vapor, a veil-

It's the veil of a bride on her
high wedding day,
on the day she is wed,
mountain bride, to the sky.

And the world shudders

And the bride standeth still
and her groom, noble sky
waits stiller yet, still.
And the other high mountains
bring gifts as they will--

The mountain bride's mother
Volcano; she vents.
She vents up on high in a shivering sigh,
for her daughter is wed on this day
to the sky-
the high royal sky with a shimmering eye
full-uncovered-

And the eye looketh out o'er
the bay dressed in mist,
the bay at the feet of the
high mountain bride.

And the mist, now discovered,
is soon pulled away.
And it shines in the sky's eye,
glittering white
on this high, holy day...
the mountain brides life-

precious jewels, hammered silver-
her gift to the high king, the Sky.