Spearmaidens of the Firmament

A song describing a mythological tale that an ancient village where mothers once reigned believed in. Lyrics: ​ ​[Verse 1] Across the Whale-Road and the bitter foam, Far from the cliffs we call our home, We found a stead where the mothers reign, And love is a link in a golden chain. They say when a daughter walks through the final door, She does not vanish to the spirit-shore. She climbs the Bifrost where the stars are steep, With a vigil to hold while the living sleep. ​[Verse 2] In the heavy heat of the harvest sun, Before the great struggle of winter is begun, Glass-winged terrors gather their breath, To shroud the High-Hall in a hollow death. But their passed mothers wait in the star-glow’s grace, To shield every hearth and every small face. With silvered fire from the summer’s hoard, The mothers strike to save the crops of their adored. ​[Chorus] Look to the heights where the Great Dark breathes, Beyond the clouds that the mountain wreathes! Spearmaidens of the Firmament high, Holding the gates of the iron sky! They drive the shadowy serpents back, So our world will not fade into black. Because they stay, the light will remain, And break the links of the icy chain. ​[Verse 3] But the sky-stalkers regroup as the sun grows thin, Lusting to let the long-winter in. Under the Frost Moon’s silvered glare, An epic of love fills the frozen air. They hurl the shards of the starlight’s aim, Setting the rafters of the world aflame. Though their quivers may drain as the night turns white, They stand as a wall against the dragons' blight. ​[Verse 4 ] The winter is long and the wind is a blade, But they sleep in the peace that the mothers have made. In the silence of snow, by the star-glow's light, They are tempering brands for the coming fight. "Wait for us," they call to the rooftops below, "We are forging the dawn in the starlight glow. Wait for the day you can hunt by our side, Where the path of the soul is a silvered tide. ​[Chorus 2] Look to the heights where the Great Dark breathes, Beyond the clouds that the mountain wreathes! Spearmaidens of the Firmament high, Holding the gates of the iron sky! They drive the shadowy serpents back, So our world will not fade into black. Because they stay, the light will remain, And break the links of the icy chain. ​[Verse 5 ] Then the Harper wakes in the frigid sky, And we watched as those mothers’ new spears fly. They descend from the stars like a silver rain, To shatter the links of the winter's chain. The hidden talons are pierced and torn, As the land is pulled to a bright new morn. They have won the season, they have bought the grace, Chasing the beasts from that hallowed space. ​[Verse 6 ] So the village lives by the rhythm of light, Grateful that love is awake and near. Death is a tide, a place to ascend, Where the mother waits for her kin and her friend. When the battle is done they'll travel beyond the sun, To sail the firmament like a new song sung. Hand in hand through the star-sown sea, Finding the truth of what it means to be free. ​[Chorus 3 ] Look to the heights where the Great Dark breathes, Beyond the clouds that the mountain wreathes! Spearmaidens of the Firmament high, Holding the gates of the iron sky! They drive the shadowy serpents back, So our world will not fade into black. Because they stay, the light will remain, And break the links of the icy chain.