A. D. 400

A long low ship from the Orkneys’ sailed,

With a full gale driving her along,

Three score sailormen singing as they baled

To the tune of a Viking song —

We have a luck-charm

Carved on the tiller,

Cut in the fore-room

See we Thor's Hammer;

Gods will protect us

Under a shield-burgh,

Carved in the mast we —

The Runes of Yggdrasil!

But the Earl called down from the kicking tiller-head,

“Six hands lay along to me!

Tumble out the hawsers there, Skallagrim the Red!

For a battle with a Berserk sea;

Sing a song of work, of a well-stayed mast,

Of clinch and rivet and pine,

Of a bull's-hide sail we can carry to the last

Of a well-built ship like mine.

Never mind the Runes on the bending tree

Or the charms on the tiller that I hold,

Trust to your hands and the Makers of the Sea,

To the gods of the Viking bold!

Thor of the Hammer —

King of the Warriors,

We are not thralls here

— Men of the sea;

We are not idle,

Fight we as seamen,

Worthy your aid then

— Men of the Sea!”