Thread: Freshtival
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Unread 06-10-2021, 06:33 AM
John Isbell John Isbell is offline
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Join Date: Mar 2017
Location: TX
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Hi Fliss,

I do in fact have a stone poem I can add to the pile. It's about these two stones in Denmark: https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=...AAAAAdAAAAABAD

And here's the poem:


The Jelling Stones

When Gorm the Old put up the first of these
two runestones for his wife, the land was pagan.
They’re under glass these days. A little church
has stood beside them for a thousand years.

His son put up the second, bigger stone:
Harald Bluetooth, thinking of his parents.
And this stone says, he made Denmark and Norway
his, made the Danes Christian
. There is Christ

entangled on its face above those runes,
yet folks have thought of Odin on his tree
to see Christ, arms outstretched, thus trapped in curls.
The bright paint’s almost gone, but those who read

the runes or images will learn of Harald.
Another face shows what may be a snake,
a lion in its toils. The runes beneath
do not interpret. And the little church

can’t tell you who these creatures are. They stood
beneath the sky of Jutland long enough
to shed the meaning they once had. The snake
may have the upper hand, but they’re not done.

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