[Intro] [Hook] Shield to shield, and the tide runs low, spear-wall waitin' where the black waters flow, one narrow road through the river mud — and the price of the crossin' is blood! (Blood!) [Verse 1] Hear me, hall-lord, hoarder of rings, sea-wolves at your shore, and the raven sings, born on the whale-road, raised at the oar, we've emptied richer halls than yours on a hundred other shores. Buy off the spear-storm with silver and gold, or we'll take it from your hall and leave your hall cold, your farmers are frightened, your fighters are green, your shields are fresh-painted — not a dent to be seen. [Verse 2] Hear me, foam-wolf — I'll unlock my word-hoard: you'll get your tribute, the spear and the sword, old blades for your bracelets, hard points for your price — we pay you in iron, and we won't pay twice. Go back to your beach, you beggar of the bay, tell your oar-thieves the gray wolf won't give way, three spears on the causeway, three men like a wall, and you'll feed the eels if you try it at all. [Hook] Shield to shield, and the tide runs low, spear-wall waitin' where the black waters flow, one narrow road through the river mud — and the price of the crossin' is blood! (Blood!) [Verse 3] Look at you, graybeard — the mead's made you slow, you'll die on the straw where the soft men go, coughin' in a bed with your sword on the wall, and nobody'll sing of you, nobody at all. We don't fear the spear-point, the storm, or the deep — we fear growin' old and dyin' in our sleep. Cattle die, kinsmen die, and you'll die the same — the only thing that lives is the dead man's name. [Verse 4] Graybeard? Aye. But the straw won't have me — I'll die on this ground with the river beside me, face to the water and my hearth-men around, and a sea-wolf or two in the mud where I'm found. You talk like the wind talks — loud, then it's gone, you came for the silver, but you won't stay long, so tell your oarsmen not to wait to row you home — you came for English silver. You'll be leavin' Danish bones. [Bridge] Wulfstan, son of Ceola, on the causeway with his spear, Alf-hair-uh and Maccus at his shoulders — no man crosses here, the first one who tried it, Wulfstan put him in the tide, and the sea-wolves stood and stared from the other side. [Hook] Shield to shield, and the tide runs low, spear-wall waitin' where the black waters flow, one narrow road through the river mud — and the price of the crossin' is blood! (Blood!) [Verse 5] Then I laughed across the water: "Gray wolf, your road's too thin — is the boldest earl in England scared to let us in? Give us the ground, let us cross to the field, and we'll settle it like men — shield on shield." [Earl] "Come across, then, sea-wolf — come stand where I can see, I'll give you all the ground you want: six feet of it, from me." [Herald] Pride, they'd call it after — he gave us the ground, and we crossed the cold causeway without a sound. [Crossing] [Battle] [Herald] Spear-din, shield-crack, the meadow's runnin' red, sword-storm risin', and the ravens overhead — [Earl] Stand, my hearth-men! Hold the line! Keep your heads! I'm old, but I'm standin', and I'll stand till I'm dead! [Herald] Your shield's in splinters, and your arm's gone slow — [Earl] I was swingin' this sword before you could row! [Herald] Gray wolf's bleedin' — [Earl] — then let him bleed! [Herald] ...and the gray wolf's down. [Herald] His own horse ran with a coward on its back, and his men thought the earl had fled — and the whole line cracked. Cattle die, kinsmen die — but he died on his feet, and they'll sing his name longer than they ever sing of me. [Silence] [Final] Mind must be firmer! Heart must be keener! Courage the greater as our strength grows less!
