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Those Who Came Before

from Great Migrations by Wyrdstæf

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This track depicts a tribal elder telling his folk of an ancient race of men who lived in their lands during the interminable aeons before they migrated. It is with sadness and regret that he speaks of the violence between Homo Sapiens and Neanderthal that ultimately led to the latter's extinction.

lyrics

“Gather to me,
Blood of my blood,
Children of my hearth,
How often we wandering ones
Must wend away the worry
Of kindred grievously snatched
From the sky-fires’ blessed light.”

So spoke the earth-stepper,
A memorial of miseries,
a lament of lives lost
a keening call
to the crumbling of kinsmen
…and yet,
I have heard another tale
out ancient enemy,
stout-hearted strongly
ashen of skin,
bereft of tongues
whose countenance bedevils
and strikes terror
entwining into the hearts of the earths children,
O’ thou have eyes
Yet he sees not,
Thou have a mouth
Yet he speaks not,
Thou clad thyself in hoary hide
and huddle around the hungry blaze
O’ ye wretched animals
wicked and wild
ye traverse the deepwald,
we witnessed the weohs wrought in
winters fastness stand firm against the brutish cold,

…and yet, are we not akinned?
The web of wyrd bewailing
Two trees of the same root
One ancient,
accustomed as it were to deliberate their darkened existence,
aged in spirit, remembering from afar
as steadfast mountains recalling their youth
in interminable ages,
drawn silently to return to the earth
The second, but a sapling
standing defiant against the devouring cold
Our quickening tools and words of wit,
Our past is short yes,
But our future? So bright.

…and yet, are we not akinned?

Oh how the space of years has spread,
growing gloomy beneath the night helm,
as if they never were
Tracks of the beloved multitude,
all that remain.
…how the space of years has spread,
Where are the wildmen?
Where are their weohs?
Where are the clan caves brightened with flame?
Where are their tracks in the woods?
No,
Our roots though entwined,
Now they sever.
No more the ancient foe,
All gone the ashen enemy,
Lost for good,
Our primordial forebears,
Lost for good,
are those eyes in the dark,
Silent and steadfast,
those who were old when we were but children.
Who is wise must forken,
How ghostly it will be
when the world and hear creations stand wasted.

credits

from Great Migrations, released June 20, 2021

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Wyrdstæf York, UK

Wyrdstæf is a is an extreme metal /dark ambient project which evokes the ancient stories of humans living in the prehistoric past. The era of Wyrdstæf is between the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic eras when humans lived in nomadic tribes of hunter-gatherers and migrated by foot across the world. ... more

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