Surt

by Andrew Gyll

(Previously published in Shadow Gods and Black Fire, Asphodel Press 2008)

Surt2I was first.

 

I am the doorkeeper

who will drop the bolts

behind you when you leave.

 

In the leap, twist,

and salamander slither

I writhe and seethe

in formlessness.

 

I am breath

and the mother of smoke.

 

I am warmth and terror,

the dance at the star’s heart.

 

I am fury

on the face of the atom.

I am molten.

 

I am love, death,

terror and exaltation.

I am the beginning of beginnings

and the end of ends.

 

I am the doorkeeper

who will drop the bolts

behind you when you leave.

 

Grandmother says she is oldest—

I am older.

 

One-eye says he is wisest—

I am wiser.

 

Red-beard says he is strongest—

I am stronger.

 

World-walker says he is the most cunning—

I am slyer.

 

More terrible than Hel,

with her I gather parings

at the end of time.

 

My sons have honed

their swords of flame;

in splendour they spring forth

to ravage worlds

without number.

 

I am the doorkeeper

who will drop the bolts

behind you when you leave.

 

Artwork by Viking Myke.