Viking - Peter Hammill

Looking out forward over the prow of our long ship

Pulling our oars and listening to the foam;

Helmets and sheepskins salt-damp in the sea-mist:

We’re going home

Aslak of Langadale, Einar Thorgeirsson

Olaf the White and Sigurd the Powerful…

Looking for constellations above the horizon

West wind cutting sharper than our blades;

Smiling forever into an endless sunrise

We’re flying on the waves

Thorfin Karlsefny, Aud the Deep-Minded

Snorri Thorbrandsson, Thorstein the Black…

Out of dark Vinland, with grey waves racing before us —

We want no rest

Back to the homeland, Iceland, sleeping in winter —

Back from the West

Five years we roam;

Now we’re going home