Among the Frozen Wastes of Cimmeria

Beneath black crags wrapped deep in snow
Where iron winds through nightfields roared
The Cimmerians barred their heavy doors
With timber beams and rusted boards

Bear pelts hung thick from rafters charred
By smoke from hearthfires burning low
While frost-snouted hounds beside the walls
Slept curled beneath the drifting snow

The women scraped the heavy hides
With ash and salt and boiling grease
While kettles hissed with boar-fat black
Through endless nights that gave no peace

O savage Cimmeria of cursed stone
Of wolf-cry, frost and bitter sky
Your fires burned through ages old
Where nameless kings were born to die
O dread Cimmeria of storm and hail
Of iron nights and forests pale
Your warriors slept beside their blades
Beneath the mountain bleak and pale

Through shattered vales of ice and shale
The axes beat from dawn till dusk
And bearded woodsmen split the firs
Through frozen pine and cedar husk

The smiths hammered broad black blades
In roaring halls of soot and flame
While anvils thundered through the waste
Like wrath no living tongue could name

Far through the blizzard hunters came
From northern cliffs and glacial scars
Dragging antlered beasts immense
Stiff beneath the frozen stars

O savage Cimmeria of cursed stone
Of wolf-cry, frost and bitter sky
Your fires burned through ages old
Where nameless kings were born to die
O dread Cimmeria of storm and hail
Of iron nights and forests pale
Your warriors slept beside their blades
Beneath the mountain bleak and pale

And when the blood-red dusk descended
Across the peaks of ancient granite
The elders spoke of slaughtered clans
While mead rose dark in horns beside them

Thus lived grim Cimmeria then
With neither throne nor crown of gold
But granite-hearted mountain men
And endless winters harsh and cold

O savage Cimmeria of cursed stone
Of wolf-cry, frost and bitter sky
Your fires burned through ages old
Where nameless kings were born to die
O dread Cimmeria of storm and hail
Of iron nights and forests pale
Your warriors slept beside their blades
Beneath the mountain bleak and pale