Shield My Kinsmen

This past week end we attended a Bardic event in northern Wisconsin on the lake in Ashland. There was still ice on the lake and the sun set about 30 minutes later than at home. Even in ice and snow it is a beautiful place.

The first event of the day was learning some Northshield songs and the way the songs were sang. The theme song was written by Mistress Wyndreth Berginsdottir. I decided to write it here in this first blog of the week. The title is above.

Shield my kinsmen from their foes
And from the teeth of the wind
Shield my kinsmen from sorrow and from shame
Until fate brings us shoulder to shoulder
To stand as brothers again.

We are the children of the ice and sonw
And of the golden plains and rolling hills.
We are the children of the water cold and wide,
And cool dark forests. We are the people,
We are the people of our home, Northshield.

The winter tries to break us on its anvil made of ice
But our blood beats hot and true as steel
Not a drop of it is spilled on our pure white snow
But what was bought by rivers, crimson rivers,
Crimson rivers of our foemen's own.

We are the keepers of our future and our past
And the names of our heroes past and gone,
On whose courage, strength, and wisdom
The Northshield stands.
Teach their stories to your children, to our children,
'Till their names are written in our blood and bone.

Now we fly behind the hawk who leads the way to war
For he flies in the fashion that we live,
Like a fine and blooded spear poised at the Dragon's side
We will face our foremen to fight for the honor,
To fight for the honor of our home, Northshield.

c 1996 K.Kahan