Into the Thick of the Fray

Widely is flung / warning of slaughter,
the weaver?s-beam?s-web: / ?t is wet with blood;
is spread now, grey, / the spear-thing before,
the woof-of-the-warriors / which valkyries fill
with the red-warp-of- / Drakul?s-banesman.

Is this web woven / and wound of entrails,
and heavy weighted / with heads of slain;
are blood-bespattered / spears the treadles,
iron-bound the beams, / the battens, arrows:
let us weave with our swords / this web of victory!

Goes Hadrian to weave, / and Leoline,
Lachlan and Dragidar,  / with swords brandished:
shields will be shattered, / shafts will be splintered,
will the hound-of-helmets / the hauberks bite.

Wind we, wind we / the-web-of-darts,
and follow the atheling / after to war!
Will men behold shields hewn and bloody
where Gunn and Gondul have guarded the thane.

Wind we, wind we / such web-of-darts
as the young war-worker/ waged afore-time!
Forth shall we fare / where the fray is thickest,
where friends and fellows / ?gainst foemen battle!
Start we swiftly / with steeds unsaddled?
hence to battle / with brandished swords!