I saw the sky's metallic glints And the stones on the silt of the deep The minnows - arrows of racing flesh - Glinted in the surf
Indeed, there was sea, and foamy manes On the crests of the roaring swell And a moss-covered cross, hugged by the willow Whose roots were shelter to me
And in lands beyond sea, where the people are winged, Lived my brother; he was a king As I watched in the sky the circling frigates I cried, remembering him
Brother mine, with a bird's appearance, brother with the hands of a maiden Brother mine! Brother, I dream of the sea, the songs of black waves Brother mine
On a cruel morning an old man told me Of a Fish whose fat was power And thereupon I took an Oath of Blood That I would eat of its flesh
But the old one, crooked as a hundred-year elm, Struck the parchment before him - "The lure for the fish should be made of eye - Of the eye of the Ruler of Birds".
Brother mine, your cape black Brother mine, your camp white Brother mine, my cape white Brother mine, my camp black Brother mine!
Brother mine, your cross in the circle Brother mine, my circle holding the cross Brother mine, my cross in the circle Brother mine, your circle holding the cross Brother mine!
I went out on the cliffs, bent over low And my cry shook the heavens above - A brother calling a brother to battle, To tear out a brother's eyes
And a storm arose from the flapping of wings - As my brother came to my call Sacrificial blood spattered the cliffs As we were hidden from the gaze of Heaven
Brother mine, your gaze black Brother mine, your cry white Brother mine, my gaze white Brother mine, my cry black Brother mine!
Brother, where is your knife - mine is here, Brother, this is my knife, where is yours Brother, where is your knife - mine is here, This is my knife, my brother, mine.. Brother mine!
And a battle there was, and the Sun grew dark Overcast by a bank of black clouds I knew then not the Force that awakened At the glittering of our blades
I knew then not the Force we awakened By the glinting of our blades As the battle boiled and the battle raged Under the black bank of clouds
Whose semi-spectral shadow swirls in the east? Whose crystal paths separate night and day? Whose staff touches the sky, whose staff reaches the depths? As whose necklace do the Sun and Moon serve?
Set, impending, on a narrowboat on the winds of autumn storms Three irises burn in the eye turned inwards Set, drawn by our skirmish, steers in the heights And four irises burn in the eye that sees out...
And my reddened brother fell at my feet, The cries of raving birds Swept over the rocks on which his body grew cold, Its eyesockets weeping emptiness
Of the eye I made a lure, and threw it undercliff In the place where the streams circle - Luck was with me, and I caught the Fish With the alien - human - face
I ate of the fish, and the shrouds fell And I saw through the haze of day In the sky, moving, the champion of red, Whose eye was searching for me
I threw up my palms - but I saw through my hands And then it pierced my face: The gaze of four irises on a shining circle In a fearsome, blood-filled ring
My thoughts were seared out, my memories iced, And I left on and endless path I walked to the North, with a bird above, And my gaze was heavy as lead
I slept under roots of felled pine and elm I ate wild berries and honey I wove a corncrake's broken cry Over the haze of the evening marshes
In the countries of ice and eternal sunset Where the tears freeze on the cheek I sing of a brother that murdered a brother For a Fish whose food is eyes..
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