Prayer to Heimdall

Weary the Watchman waits, but never
Ceases to scan the sky. His eyes
Are keen as kestrels, sharp as shale
And just as grey-blue. Blown clouds
Are his friends, scudding by the doorway
Where scans his darting glance. No danger
Shall get by, nor fool find his feet bold
On Bifrost’s bridge. Only the bravest souls,

Saluted in by Odin’s will, his swelling ranks
Rowdy with their skyward-lifted spears.
Up here, the air is thin as thought, and cold
The keep at rainbow’s ridge. Why stay?
For father’s love, for stepmother’s smile,
For family and friends, but truth told,
It is more than that. He guards the gate
Because it must be done, because it has
Become what he does, and who would he be
If he did other? For he has learned life’s lesson
In this matter: rewards lie not in the voices
Of others, but in knowing one’s own might,
And that the mission be done, because one can.
And that is all, and all enough to hold him here,
Silhouetted stark against the blue, the brass
Glint of the great horn in the hall behind.
Repayment solely in the strength you find.

Strength of the Aesir,
Mighty Warder,
Holiest of Powers
I hail You.

Keen Eyed Watchman
poised upon the mighty bridge,
keeping safe those to Whom
You have sworn Your duty,
I honor You.

Nothing may pass You.
Nothing can overcome Your might.
You are the inviolable Power,
You the shining shield
standing between the Gods
and dissolution.

Hail, Warder of Bifrost.
Hail, Heimdall!