[Intro: solo kantele, then frame drum] (spoken, low) Vaka vanha Väinämöinen... [Verse 1] Out of the dark of the northern halls Amber lanterns climb the walls One by one the keepers came Every box a torch, every torch a name [Pre-Chorus] Less than thirty days and nights The racks were singing, the ledger bright [Chorus] Seitsemänsataa! Hear the kantele ring! Seitsemänsataa! Seven hundred boxes sing! Kantele soi, the Sampo turns Kiitos teille, the lantern burns [Verse 2] Seven hundred years the Mother bore The world unborn, before any shore Not even a moon, not a full moon's run Seven hundred boxes, and the month not done [Verse 3: call and response, runo-singer style] Who built the boat? (You built the boat!) Who kept it steady and afloat? (You kept it afloat!) Not the singer, not the smith (Not the smith!) The ones who stayed, we sail with them (We sail with them!) [Bridge: half-time, choir] Every claim past the line till the autumn moon is done Gets a week from the old one's chest, one by one Syyskuu wanes, the pledge is made The old one counts, the tally's laid [Chorus: key change, full choir] Seitsemänsataa! Hear the kantele ring! Seitsemänsataa! Seven hundred boxes sing! Kantele soi, the Sampo turns Kiitos teille, the lantern burns [Outro: kantele alone, spoken] Kiitos. Seitsemänsataa. The song goes on.
