tisdag 15 maj 2018

Döds Ände lyrics


Döds Ände – Death's End
First song on Svavelvinter's full-length-album Mörkrets Tid.
English lyrics translation and explanations below.
Album available at Dimout Production.
Link to video

Döds Ände is sung by the wizard Shagul, shouting out his defiance towards the gods – ”the storytellers” to him. He refuses to be a character in an already written story and has stolen his name, placing it in a magical book which makes him his own master and invisible to the gods.

Swedish lyrics
Var än jag är
förblir min tanke min
I världen härskar jag med egen håg
Jag lever hellre fri av dy och syra
än tjänar gudarna i höga himlar

Jag är han
Jag är ingen
Jag tar makt över tingen
Jag är han
skorpionen
Jag är utvald till tronen

Mörkerman ses mäktig stånda
gräsligt fram ur gravens grotta
Ve den stad där vaggan stod
Djupen må dess murar sluka

Låt fjättra var min lem i stumman länk
om smidd än av den hårdaste demant
mitt skratt ska flykta levande ur fängsel
som fjädern dansa bort med vårens vind

I boken skriver jag mitt eget liv
min hand med tålmod formar var versal
Låt rygg som saknar vilja träla slav
Mitt öga slukar rymd från höga berg

Berättarna må kräla i sitt guld
De läser mig, men ser mig ändå inte
De hör min röst, men ingen styr mitt öde
jag äger mod att knyta stolt min näve

Varje man
jag är Shagul,
bringar aska och tagel


English lyrics
Wherever I am
my thoughts remain my own
In all the world I rule by my own will
I’d rather live free in mud and acid
than serve the gods in high heavens

I am he
I am nobody
I claim power over matter
I am he
the scorpion
I am destined for the throne

The dark man rises with might
horribly from the cave of his tomb

Woe to the city where his cradle stood
May the deep swallow its walls

Let fetter each limb with rigid links
Be they forged of unyielding diamond
my laughter will still escape alive
like a feather in the winds of spring

In the book I write my own life
my hand patiently forms each letter
Let the spineless serve as slaves
My eye tastes the view from above

The storytellers may crawl in gold
They read me, but they see me not
They hear me, but don’t rule my destiny
I proudly dare to clench my fist

All men
I am Shagul,
bringing ash and whip

# # #

* Red text is a quote from the prophecy Vox Ranzina in the RPGs and novels. It spells doom for the city where Shagul was born.
* Lyrics paragraphs 1,4 and 6 were written in blank verse as a homage to John Milton. Somebody pointed out that Shagul has an agenda similar to Lucifer in Milton's Paradise Lost.
* Döds Ände – Death's End – is a concept from the novel Svavelvinter, where the wizard's disciples seek immortality. It doesn't end well for them.
* The name Shagul means ”scorpion” – this is incidently the scorpion on the Svavelvinter T-shirts and on the spine of the novels. You can see Shagul on the reddish book cover to the right, on the cover of the novel Slaktare småAll Little Butchers.
* ”Demant” is an older spelling of ”diamond” in Swedish. I used the older word to better suit the rythm.

Inga kommentarer: