#11 - Fenrir at Ragnarök

Ragnarök is the end of the world in Norse mythology, a great battle in which many gods are killed. Fenrir is a great big wolf god (son of Loki). He kills Odin and then is killed by Vidar (who is Odin’s son). Complicated family dynamics…

 

Fenrir at Ragnarök

Prepare for an apocalyptic brawl 

where gods and beasts and giants meet their end.

A bloody war where fury conquers all, 

where father turns on son and friend on friend. 

While mediation thrives on compromise,

these bearded lads would rather have the fight.

To lunge - head-first - towards their own demise,

and, on the way, engage in righteous smite!

The crashing crunch of jaws reverberates,

but he resolved to swallow Odin whole.

It is impertinent to masticate 

a deity ‘round whom the world revolves.

This Vidar, god of vengeance, plays his part

and pulls his wolfy body clean apart. 

LM

Odin and Fenris (1909) by Dorothy Hardy

#18 – A Good Boy

Black Shuck is a massive, black, spectral hound who haunts the churchyards and winding lanes of Fenland, and made particularly memorable impressions on the churches of Bungay and Blythburgh on 4 August 1577. He is said to be a harbinger of doom – to see him is to know you’re likely to die within the year (apparently, if you hear him, you should close your eyes). With one theory being that Shuck is a remnant of Odin’s Wild Hunt, I wondered what that might be like…

I only want someone to call my name –
The one He gave, not scucca, Shug, or Shuck.
Abandoned in this marsh to untrimmed fame,
Without Him by my side, it seems I’m stuck.

These flatland folk can’t see me save at night,
And when they do, they’re never any fun –
They never want to play, or hunt, or fight;
They only want to whimper, freeze, or run.

But I was trained to hold strait to my course,
To stick and strive until the job’s complete.
If I can show I’m fast as any horse,
Then maybe He’ll return and give me treats.

Until He rides this way I’ll haunt this fen,
And howl alone until I’m Pack again.

–FR

The original, identikit picture of Black Shuck looks more like a ram than a dog. This is cuter, trust me. Source.