Torchlight in utter darkness
Starts licking wood with its deadly tongue
In seconds its hunger grows
Wood is eaten by flames twelve feet long
Before the eyes of heathens
The shrine of the cross lights up the glade
On the ground lie six bodies
That have met their fate by pagan blade

Hear the autumn thunder in the sky
Vanishing the mild summer breeze
An autumn thunder roars down on the ground
By its force the foreign god flees

A flash of steel cuts flesh
By doing so it cuts the cross
The mossy ground drinks the blood
Of a hundred men in white clothes
The morning smells of death
But still it feels like a fresh wind
After so many years
Where the forests returned to the pagan kings

Hear the autumn thunder in the sky
Vanishing the mild summer breeze
An autumn thunder roars down on the ground
By its force the foreign god flees

Fullmoon turned to crescent and crescent to fullmoon
Many times over the forests of Hдme
The old gods were respected
And new houses rose on the ashes of the cross
All was at peace
When the summer began to turn to autumn
But when the first leaves turned to yellow and brown
People began to see signs... bad omens
One day a hunter from the coast came
And told he had heard rumours
The ships of the foe had been seen in northwest
And their numbers were great

Morning mist chilly was floating up from the sea
At a dawn when leaves were falling down from trees
Gathered were the pagan kings to the circle of stones
Out of silence rose a man known as wise and old

"We've all seen the fires
And heard the tale of the hunter
Hear my words when I say
This autumn roars thunder"

Passed dusks and dawns two times ten
Fires burning were not on their hills
Again was blood flowing, now of heathen men
The foe had returned to burn and kill

Village by village they went
Leaving only crosses and ashes behind
Until pagans were beaten
By their body, not their mind
Poured water on their heads
Mumbling words of a foreign tongue
Built houses for their god
Was the pride of these forests forever gone?

Hear the autumn thunder fade away
With its echo they lost their pride
Freedom of centuries was lost in days
The autumn thunder in their hearts had died

Two eyes in darkness like two burning fires
Still cold as a wintery lake
The moon is hidden behind dark clouds
Fluttering wings... The silence breaks

I was walking on the edge of the forest
When the eyes began to approach
A while I just stood there watching
The eyes coming close

The owl she came onto my arm
Her eyes starring deep into me
Soon a shroud covered my eyes
I could hear but I couldn't see

"The time is close, o men of Karelia
Men of pride, the time is near
Soon thou will see a new god coming
When snow falls he will be here

Centuries to come will see his dominion
His dominion that makes thee slaves
Have not fear, it won't last forever
The new dawn will hail thy father' gods again"

At the very moment the last word was gone
Returned my sight
I saw no owl only heard a silent flutter
From Tapio's realm, from the fading night

As I walked away I thought:
"It can't be true that a northern man
Would lose his honour and be a slave
Of a god from an unknown land..."

The battle of the giants was raging
The Earth tried to free from the Ice
Who had taken her to his deadly embrace
And shunned her from all light
The Sun rose and set a million times
In the southern horizon
Before he felt pity for the Earth
Decided to save his beloved one

The warm rays of the Sun laid upon the Earth
Ice began to melt - waters flow
So withdrew the Ice northwards to a land
Where aurora borealis glow
In time were water dried
Still was the Earth desolate
No life, no growth but one tree
Suffering of Ice's winds' hate

Of the seeds of this lonely tree
Grew a forest and another and another
The landscape changed to blue and green
Lakes and forests became brothers
Although winters were cold
The land survived and filled with life
Wolves and bears wandered in woods
Not threatened by spear or knife

At a dawn on a hillside climbed a two-legged creature
Wrapped in a hide and carrying a sharpened bone
He watched the land and its beauty
This was going to be his home...

Strenghtened bravemen hearts
Ride with the pale moon
Reach for the source of wisdom
In the glare of the guiding star

Visions of a pure land
As fires haunt
The chains are unbound
The visions shall be true

A throne is risen
For the bravehearted northmen
Sprung out of the source of wisdom
With pure pagan blood

Ages of the elders return
Fallen upon the traitor's hand
The curs shall be slain
Stain by the Hammer of pride

Up from the North we come
From the land of a thousand lakes
A heathen force from the once proud Northland
Where pines are covered with snowflakes

Pagan warriors, hear our battlehymn
Help our words soar high
Thou shall be greeted with our mighty hail
Our star is on rise!

Break the chains of enslavement
Time will come for the enslavers to pay
One winter solstice we shall gather together
And it will be their doomsday!

Pagan warriors, hear our battlehymn
Help our words soar high
Thou shall be greeted with our mighty hail
Our star is on rise!

Our star is now dim
But getting brighter
It will replace the enslaver sun
Hear us, brothers and sisters
A new day is dawning
Upon us heirs of the Northstar

Pagan warriors, hear our battlehymn
Help our words soar high
Thou shall be greeted with our mighty hail
Our star is on rise!

On the top of the Falconhill...
I was standing surrounded by solitude
Evening breeze as my only friend
It was a beautiful dusk of November
Darkness wrapping around the hills where paths end

To my eyes reflected a distant fire
A fire from far away
A sign our enemy is approaching
From the land beyond the bay

Beyond the mist covered forest on the river I saw
Three dozen ships with crosses on sails
Soon everywhere burnt fires
Mine among the others
From the village a horde was marching Till death or fame!

To my eyes reflected a distant fire
A fire from far away
A sign our enemy is approaching
From the land beyond the bay

By the time the sun was about to rise above the skyline
The army of the cross and heathen hordes collided
By the time the sun was lurking high behind a cloud
Only the heathen swords were held against the sky

They were slaughtered and vanished for now
But they will return to spread their word and kill
It was a god-against-god-battle I saw
On the top of the Falconhill

He wandered through landscapes painted
Green by forests and blue by lakes
All the way of leagues ten and five
Until he arrived during the fall of twilight

Gathered the villagers around him
To hear the sad news he had to bring
"Three dawns ago in the land towards sunrise
Was thy king slain in a battle at night"

A gray cloud shadowed the hearts of men
And flowing tears wet women's eyes
Their king had gone to Tuonela
Had his spirit among them died?
Had it gone away with the flames
That burned his warship - his grave
The nightwinds had called his name
The gods got another man brave

Weeks after the funeral was seen a shadow gray
Roaming in the woods of the eastern land

Hiding in daytime then returning at night
Haunting in the minds of the mortals who killed a king

| back |

I wake up in shivers of cold
On a chilly sunny morning of May
My eyes try to catch up with what is going on
They only recall the nights which in dungeons I laid

Chanting in a tongue unknown fills my ears
Odour of incenses... warmth of torchfires
Men wearing black hooded robes are closing me
Golden crosses glow as they light my pyre

"In the name of the holy trinity
We purify thy soul with these flames
And baptize you..."

"Never! You can burn me, bastards
But you can never take my faith
I spit on your cross and curse you
In the name of the spirits of my fathers!"

"We cursed you servants of the foreign god
Despisable betrayers of your people
I will never ever accept your faith
Rather I burn at the stake!"

In the midst of the dead earth
Up through the clouds they rise
Feet sunk in moss heads covered in a veil of white
Kings born and die but fells still watch up proud
Like giants in their grandeur they stand and hold the sky

Shadows grow tall covering the barren earth
The earth that wears only lichen and moss
The sun is setting and the sky dresses in red
For the coming six fullmoons all light will be lost

The daylight goes hiding into infinity
The last shades of red turn slowly to gray
...and then to black
On some nights will the northern lights appear
And send their rays to reflect from the snow
Colouring the lands of fells in all their shades
When they disappear... Only darkness remains