Bragi's Gifts

The Skald's Specialties

Norse lyreHe is the Giver of Inspiration to poets,

To writers and all those who work with words.

He is the gift of the One Right Word,

The phrase sharp as a spearpoint that goes

To the heart of the matter, that makes the eyes

Light up in the listener's face. He is the story

Told and told well, dancing in pictures

Through the minds of the audience. He is the music

That wends its way from mind to pen to paper,

And then to the fingers flying on strings,

The breath that blows through flute and pipe.

He is the wordless skill of the tune, the rhythm

That sets the body moving, the head nodding.

He is the breath, too, that flies over the crowd,

Given shape with speech, forcing men to listen,

To hear, to think, to act on those words.

As his sire is the in-breath, so he is the out-breath,

The exhalation that brings change to the world.