Den gudomliga väven lyrics

Den gudomliga väven – The Divine Tapestry
Sixth song on Svavelvinter's full-length-album Mörkrets Tid.
English lyrics translation and explanations below.
Album available at Dimout Production.

The story in the four novels revolves around a lost and messed up divine tapestry – a blueprint of the world as it was meant to be. The eccentric rooster Koklai of divine origin is sent to the world to fix things, working with some of the main characters. He wields The High Language, which has the power to change reality.

Swedish lyrics

Tuppen står mot solens uppgång

stolt han gal de gyllne toner

Orden sjunger Höga språket

Låga tungan löper under

Varpens plogfåra

dess skyttel en fågelnäbb

Jag väver världen

Vet ni det nu eller ej

Väven vindlar, varp och inslag

Tråden, skör som ålderhåret

faller i sitt eget alldjup

Bythos kallar kött till bilden

Mäktigt ljuder runosång

ger dälden, skaldar träden

täljer tingen, mäler tiden

Tar flöde och form

Trälavind, din trägna gång

låt klösa gråhavstäcket

Ro med kraft till ön Marjura

Nu skåda en strand

Havets sten på solstrand smälter

Blommor vissnar, bladen vittrar

Gudabann till ände gånget

mörker föder forna makter

Aldrun, sångerskan ur vågen

Silvia Miranda, häxan

Ammisadu, sydlandsprästen

alla bidar tidens allvar

Masternas frukter

med seglens gula bladverk

alla löven nu

faller i havet

Stammen klyver vattnets yta

Ödets ässja hörs i fjärran

Norden kallar, nordan kyler

karga nunors vakt om natten

fjärran arten, skalets folk

bekryper djupen under ytan

bidar tiden, väntar lägen

klamrar ren vid bark och grenar

Hanen höjer halsen lång

ur hinnor halar djuren

klöser marken, hackar lösen

ger värme och blod

Fågelns tjut med gudatvång

drar vinden, sliter varpen

lyfter livet ur dess drömmar

Han väver ett land

En strand

En hand

Ett band

English lyrics

The rooster in the dawning sun

proudly calls his golden notes

Words are sung in godly language

The lower tongue chants below

The warp a furrow

The shuttle a bird’s beak

I weave the world

Do you know it now or not

The weave winds, warp and weft

The thread, brittle as aged hair

dives in it’s own deep

Bythos calling flesh to image

Mightily sounds the runesong

turns the valley, sings the trees

telling things, declaring time

flowing and forming

Slave wind, sedulous worker

claw the grey coat of the sea

Row forcefully to the island of Marjura

Behold its shores

Stones of the sea melt on sunny shores

Flowers fade, leaves wither

The curse of the gods has come to an end

darkness yielding ancient powers

Aldrun, singer of the waves

Silvia Miranda, the wind witch

Ammisadu, the southern priest

all await a time serene

Fruit of the masts

and the yellow foliage of our sails

all leaves now

fall into the ocean

The tree trunk cleaves the water surface

The forge of destiny is heard from afar

North is calling, north wind paling

barren faces watching in the night

A distant species, people of the shell

crawling in water under the surface

expecting times, awaiting events

clinging to bark and branches

The rooster raises his neck

hauls animals from fetal membranes

claws the ground, hacks the watchwords

summons warmth and blood

The bird’s godly howling

rends the wind, tears the warp

lifts life out of it’s dreams

He weaves a world

A hand

A link

A land

# # #

Lines in red are Japanes haikus with an extra line. 

The extra line in the first haiku is from Völvans spådom, a prophecy in the ancient viking text The Poetic Edda.

Lines in green loosely follow (in Swedish) the viking meter of fornyrdislag with two pairs of alliterated sounds in each line.

Bythos is a world beyond the world in the novels, where the rooster Koklai arrives from. The greek word Bythos means deep (abyss comes from this) and is a concept in gnosticism.

Aldrun, Silvia Miranda and Ammisadu are all main characters from the novels.