Skadi's Hymn
by Elizabeth Vongvisith
Hail to Thee, Skadi, Frost Woman,
whose bow sings death
through the land of white stillness;
hail to You, O fur-bearing,
snowshoed Merciless One,
hard-edged as a sheet of Arctic ice,
yet clearer and lovelier than even that.
Hail, Lady of Snows, half-remembered Queen
whose knife flashes swiftly to end the struggle,
hail Skadi, pale-eyed, black-haired, luminous
as bone under moonlight.
Hail, Huntress whose arrows fly truest,
hail, Cold One whose heart beats blue fire
beneath Your breast of snow,
hail Skadi, whose tracks lead us
beyond the white cold,
into memory, into forgetting,
into slow sleep.
We praise You, O Daughter of Thiazi,
giantess, mighty Queen of winter
from snow to melt.