Hail to the son of Rind,

Born of rape, avenging murder,

Your father’s wrath

Caught in your own blood.

Your mother’s frost-coldness

Glinting in your eyes.

Your brother’s blood

On your sure and swift hands.

Arrow mistimed, spear aimed

At the wrong target, you were

Set up and thrown, but now

You are no longer a pawn,

And Odin’s eye is upon you.

Hail, God of vengeance’s heat,

May you remind us how easy it is

To aim hot and strike out cold.

Photo and sculpture of Váli by Siddiq Abdul Hakim.