Valhalla Calls Come
Valhalla calls “Come,
To grounds red and green”
Fields weep warriors
From mist to be seen
Weapons gleam catch light
Of early morning sun
Newly awoke
With dark night done
Cool air fogs
Congeals to hard fighter forms
Dewy maidens blossom
From flowers of morn
Yesterday’s echoes
Sound steel on steel
Drift through earthborn clouds
‘Fore weapons are wield
Come for honor, truth and death
Fall upon fields glorious.
Death walks not
On fields green and red
Hel has no strength
None fall dead
Crash and clash carry
To Odin maidens and Sif
Teasing Thor’s ears
Crossing Heimdall’s rift
Valkyries ride
On pegasi great
Flying the fantasy
Reaping warriors of rate
Bold bodies bloodied
Chosen, all win
Valhalla true home
Gather gods and Mithgard men
Come god, swordarm and child
Challenge friends hostile.
Sun weans trek
To noon high house
Burning warriors with heat
Dew and defender are roust
Cool night tentacles creep
Broad blanket the land
Warrior and maiden
Rise once again
Make merry with mead
Fitting feast display
Bard tongue twist tales
Hear music men play
Warrior wench dance
Flow freely the brew
Beds beg bodies
But remain unused
Come singer, brewer and dame
Revel in warrior fame.
Lightening sky siren
Sings fighters’ wakeup call
Mead mugs made orphan
To armor enthrall
Morning mist rises
From fields of fate
Birthing broad warriors
Of darktime dew create
Fight must quick
‘Fore burning of heat
Daring death dueling
Summer sun defeats
Battlemaids, brawlers
Combatants and kings
Valhalla calls “Come,
To grounds red and green
Come family, friend and foe
Pennsic – BEHOLD!
by,
Lady Prudence the Curious
Written August 1995; Submitted to Pennsic Newsletter Aug 1996
A&S Competitions & Other Uses
I’ve entered it in many competitions and preformed it at many bardic gatherings. Valhalla Calls Come is one of my favorite works which I created.
Background to the Poem
“Valhalla Calls Come” is a poem written in the Norse tradition. It is meant to be read outloud where the rhythm and rhyme come alive. The Norse epic poems also emphasized consonant sounds with entire lines where each word started with the same consonant. Each word must be said distinctly, with each letter of the word pronounced (unlike normal South Jersey speech which has “wader” for water).
This poem was written after an epic battle in the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) which was named Pennsic. It took an entire week to play/fight it out. Unfortunately, Pennsic also took place during the Summer Heat Wave of 1995 in the month of August and every day, around noon, the heat index rose about 120. People in metal armor are not able to do rousing fights when imitating tea kettles. While the SCA recreated the battle, we would rise really early each day with the dew and be beaten off the field by the heat by early afternoon. At nighttime we celebrated in the encampments the victories of the day (which made the morning seem even earlier). Did I mention we were camping and had no access to running water or air conditioning for the entire week? But at the end of the week, the battle was won and the survivors of the heat deserved an Epic Poem.
Valhalla is a place in Norse myth where warriors fight each day, die, but rise again to party at night with the very people they fought with each day. And in the morning they fight again. So people are both friend and foe, just like in the SCA where each morning a warrior decides which side to be loyal to and fight for. This is why I choose the Norse tradition to write the poem. I hope you enjoy it.