Odin Row Chant

Gray-beard wanderer, one-eyed king, Hear the iron oarlocks ring! Wave and wind and raven’s cry, Guide my keel where dark seas lie! (Chorus, call and response) Heave-ho! Pull and glide! By Odin’s will I ride! Heave-ho! Stroke in time! Make my heart and spirit climb! Rune-seeker hung upon the Tree, Nine long nights for mystery— Grant me hunger, sharp and deep, Wisdom that the weak can’t keep. Forge my mind like winter steel, Eyes that every secret feel, Teach the words of hidden flame, Power woven into name! (Chorus, call and response) Heave-ho! Pull and glide! By Odin’s will I ride! Heave-ho! Stroke in time! Make my heart and spirit climb! Refined Hávamál & Ravens Verse Huginn, Muninn, soar through my mind, Thought and Memory, unconfined. From the Well and from the Tree, Hávamál’s wisdom flows to me: Speak with caution, act with fire, Drink in measure, guard desire. Cattle die and kinsmen die, I too shall die beneath the sky— One thing never dies, the fame Of the worthy and their name. Let my deeds be ever spoke To outshine the pyre’s smoke! (Chorus, call and response) Heave-ho! Pull and glide! By Odin’s will I ride! Heave-ho! Stroke in time! Make my heart and spirit climb! Lord of ravens, wolves, and war, You who know what battles are for Gift me cunning, cold and bright, To outwit the dark and win the fight. Make me steady, make me bold, Hard as ice and bright as gold, Yet let beauty stir my soul— Moon on shield and mead in bowl. Let me love the song and fair, Braided gold and midnight hair, For even kings with bloodied hands Marvel where the starlight lands. (Chorus, call and response) Heave-ho! Pull and glide! By Odin’s will I ride! Heave-ho! Stroke in time! Make my heart and spirit climb! All-Father, hear this rowing song, Keep my back and spirit strong, Till the final tide, the final breath, Carries me unbowed to death. Then in halls of spear and flame, I shall thunder forth your name— Odin! Odin! Storm-crowned sire! Feed my heart with wisdom’s fire!