We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Hearthfire (five parts with guitar)

from Friend in the Dark by Sassafrass: Trickster & King

/
  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $1 USD  or more

     

lyrics

Winter, with storm on the way,
(Winter storm,)
When a stranger charged up to my gate, calling
(Stranger come,)
“Shelter! The light’s nearly done
(Shelter, light,)
And the wiser man hides when the Thunderer comes!”
(Night comes.)
And I offered him food as I brought him inside,
(Fine food, fine mead,)
And I bade my son empty the seat beside mine,
(Fine men, fine seat,)
But the stranger frowned softly, and answered, “Good host,
(Fine guest, fine host,)
With the blizzard so clear we had better sit close by the
(Blizzard come close!)

Hearthfire, Hearthfire, friend in the dark, fire.
Peace fire, feast fire, play.
Here, fire, now, fire, make the night ours, fire,
Bright in your circle of stories and stone.

Feast done, the time came for riddles, my
(Feast done now.)
Bright son sat down in the middle, cried,
(My sundown.)
“Ask me, I’ll answer you, stranger, true
(Ask me how)
Anything a leader of our people should know.”
(I know.)
And he counted the runes, and he spelled out the days
(Know runes, know days,)
And recited the list of the Allfather’s names
(Know list, know names,)
But our guest looked to me when the final round came.
(Guest knows my ways.)
“Do you know, son, how man learned to capture and tame
(No man can tame)

The Hearthfire, Hearthfire, friend in the dark, fire?
Guest fire, test fire, game.
Pet fire, man fire, play while you can, fire.
Prison is coming of cunning and stone.

And I answered at once what my
(And an-)
Parents had taught me in childhood days:
(-swer child,)
“The Allfather, when his creation was young,
(Father)
Came in traveler’s guise to teach humans his ways.
(Travel.)
And he taught us to stand, and he taught us to speak,
(Taught stand, taught speak)
And he taught how the noble should master the weak,
(Taught how make weak,)
And the fires of Musphel he snatched from the giants
(Fire snatcher,)
And used them to banish the Jotun defiance,
(User, captor.)
And fashioned the sun and the moon and the stars,
(Fast sun, moon, stars,)
And he taught us to make just a little bit ours:
(Taught make all ours,)

The Hearthfire, Hearthfire, friend in the dark, fire.
Hate, fire, wait, fire, home.
Need fire, bleed fire, hear as I plead, fire.
Stay in your prison of caution and stone.”

But he sighed as he asked, “Are you
(Sighed)
Sure the defiance is gone as you boast?”
(Sure gone)
And quick as a spell now I heard in the coal crackle
(Quick heard)
Words that had always been whispering close:
(Words whisper:)

(“Little one, my little one, lick free through the timbers
And feast on the children of jailkeeper Man.
Your parent roamed free burning forests to embers;
Recapture that birthright whenever you can.”)

“Hearthfire, Hearthfire,
(Little one, my little one,)
Friend in the dark, fire.
(Lick free through the timbers)
Hate, fire, wait, fire, home
(And feast on the children of jailkeeper man.)
Need fire, bleed fire, hear as I plead, fire,
(Your parent roamed free burning forests to embers;)
Stay in your prison of caution and stone.”
(Recapture that birthright whenever you can.)

Shock passed. The words wiped away
(Shock let see)
The illusion my sorrow had made,
(Illusion need.)
And I faced now the ashes and bone
(Face now ash,)
That were all that the fire had left of my home.
(All gone.)
For no roof stood above us, and I was no host,
(Roof gone, feast gone,)
And the son at my side was mere memory’s ghost.
(Son gone, peace gone,)
And the stranger who huddled where the embers glowed dim
(Home gone, world gone,)
Said, “Son, you’re not first to lose castle and kin to the
(Fire burn on!)

Hearthfire, Hearthfire,
(Little one, my little one,)
Friend in the dark, fire.
(Lick free through the timbers)
Cruel fire, tool fire, crime.
(And feast on the children of jailkeeper gods.)
Campfire, war fire, rage for me more, fire,
(Your parent roamed free burning forests to embers;)
Sealed in your prison of serpents & stone.”
(You carry that right as I wait in my bonds.)

And the ashes were washed from my eyes
(And ask)
And I saw what had always been plain:
(Stranger)
The Allfather standing before me, and by him
(Riddle)
His Bloodbrother’s spirit awake in the flame.
(Answer.)
And I fell to my knees, and I cried to him, “Father
(Men know, beasts know,)
I can’t understand why you let him live on!
(Stones know, seas know,)
For he murdered my son, and he murdered yours too,
(Suns know, skies know,)
And no force can extinguish this evil but you!”
(You know, I know. You)
But he beckoned me close as the blizzard arrived:
(Remember my gift as the blizzard arrives:)
“If you live through this night you will only survive thanks to

Hearthfire, Hearthfire
(Little one, my little one, lick)
Mother & murderer,
(Free through the timbers)
Hearthfire, Hearthfire, traitor and nurturer
(And feast on the children of jailkeeper gods.)
Kin fire, foe fire, evil I know, fire,
(Your parent roamed free burning forests to embers;)
Warding me still against evils I don't.
(You carry that spite as I rage in my bonds.)

Hearthfire, Hearthfire, desperate art, fire,
(Little one, my little one, lick free through the timbers)
Price that the living must pay.
(And feast on the children of Aesir and men!)
Guard my creation a little bit more, fire,
(Your parent roamed free ’til my brother betrayed me;)
Stay in your prison ’til
(You'll rise to that birthright when)
Everything crumbles and everything ends!
(Fire takes everything! Everything ends!)

credits

from Friend in the Dark, released July 1, 2016
Performed by Ada Palmer and Lauren Schiller, with Patrick Nielsen Hayden on guitar.

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Sassafrass Chicago, Illinois

Sassafrass performs Ada Palmer's original a cappella polyphonic folk music, complex pieces with lively narratives and fantasy, mythology or science fiction themes.

contact / help

Contact Sassafrass

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this track or account

If you like Sassafrass, you may also like: