In my many winters upon this wet & windswept coast I've seen kinsmen live and die So to those left I raise a toast As we drink by torchlight In high-gabled hallowed halls The boasts of fallen men still echo round these oaken walls Though our tribes diminish Though our numbers fade Our helms still dark, our mail bright, our fists alive with blades Follow the path of eagles As they fly to worlds on high So the souls of fallen men will travel when they die The oaths of Northern folk are borne upon the gale They do not die away but rise by fellows' hail! A pathway between the realms So the web is spun Time, place, mortality and deeds that have been done In the glare of sunset As my time draws near A will of graven stone remains Though earthly forms may disappear Grim-faced men in iron helms Through their gritted teeth deny When strength is drawn from other realms Their creed could ever die Embers burn within our souls Standards hefted to the sky Elements no-one controls… The darkest bird is yet to fly