For too long, much too long
has love been ensnared, enslaved,
marauded and murdered
by boundless and binding desire and zeal
to conquer and acquire
Freyr who fell for Gerda
A woman he found so fair
She could brighten all worlds except his
Doomed with desire,
he filled his days with darkening grief
And a teeming zeal to possess her
even at the cost of his sword mighty
and steed magical
As if she were some exhibit on sale (in a fare)
He sent a valet on a mission to woo her
- a mistake unlike any,
even the god of prosperity and peace
could not keep the pride out of the ways of heart
and go himself kneeling instead,
in the place of a valet on steed
From bribes to threats
and many a curses laced in runes
Portraying a dark future to coerce the one
who could 'brighten all worlds'
Even a doom to relegate her to a lonely fate
turning invisible yet a spectacle mocking
Leaving the maiden not much
in the way of choosing/ choice
Except the last weapon in her armour
to defend her decorum and chastity
- to/and make her suitor 'wait'
(Wait for nine nights that were longer than Freyr could conceive/ come to endure)
A virtue that dwarfs all virtues
Waiting is to love and life
What soil is to spring and blossoming
(A lesson lost on Fryer)
If only Fryer, with all his godly powers to divine,
had been privy to this tiny secret to make life yield
He wouldn't have to waste his sword or his steed
Nor wield (in) ways ungodly to pursue
the love ethereal yet earthly
A forest fair and still, awaits still
beyond the unending nights nine
that Freyr found more killing than death
And many a Gerdas continue to be cursed to exile
to remain invisible yet a spectacle mocking
In a world that has no place for patience
to woo/ lure love with longing unsullied by pride
Till the time pride and haste (continue to) have/find place in matters of the heart
the revenge of Gerda will continue beyond the (realms of) lore