Sun vanished from sight
Moon was taken from the sky
Night descended long and sorrowful
Vainam, weathered wizard, shaman poet
storm hair, blacksmith-strong struck fire
flashed the heavens stark
a spark dropped through the otherworld
through the soot-caked smoke hole it fell
through a child’s creaking cradle it fell
breaking hearts of battle maidens as it fell
and it burned the great mother’s bosom

The mother knew its fiery nature 
and sunk it in the sea
tried to quench the blinding brilliance
lest the maiden seek it the underworld
and the fire burn her in the underworld
and it roast her in the underworld

That gloomy lake — murky, mythical Alue
surged as high as the spruces
three times it swelled 
three times on a summer night
from torment of the fire
from the hungry consuming flame
three times from dousing of the embers

A sleek whitefish swallowed the stubborn spark
suffering to the swallower 
anguish to the gulper
A grey pike swam and swallowed the whitefish
a lake trout swam and swallowed the grey pike
a red salmon swam and swallowed the trout
tortured by fire, it swam
seared by fire, it darted to and fro
fleeing fire, it launched to the sky 
burrowed into the mire

Tuoni’s maggot was unearthed
and Death’s maggot burned in a copper boat
inside a punt with an iron base
Its ashes were sown upon Lake Alue’s shore 
unparalleled flax grew
peerless linen rose
in a single summer night

It was quickly stripped and taken to water
the linen put in to soak
The sisters spun it, the brothers wove it
and fashioned it into a net

Sturdy old Vainam, hero, shaman-poet
ordered the young ones to the net
They drew the net across the water
the fish did not come to the fashioned net 
They drew against the water and the salmon splashed in the sea
The net caught the firesore fish 
Sturdy old Vainam, god, hero
could not touch the salmon without mittens of iron
He split open the red salmon
the light lake trout came from the salmon’s belly
He slit the belly of the light lake trout
the grey pike came out
He cleaved the grey pike’s silvery flesh
the smooth whitefish came out
He split open the smooth whitefish
the spark came out

There the fire was lulled and the flame was rocked 
on the tip of the misty headlands
there the fire was lulled in a silver sling
the golden cradle jingled, the copper mantle trembled
the fire was lulled, shining sleepily 
and given to the people

[Colleen Anderson is an Aurora, Rhysling, Dwarf Stars and Elgin award nominee, with work published in seven countries, in such venues as Andromeda Spaceways, Space and Time the award-winning Shadow Atlas and Water: Sirens, Selkies & Sea Monsters. Her poem, Machine (r)Evolution is part of Tenebrous Press’s 2023 Brave New Weird. She lives in Vancouver, BC and is a Ladies of Horror Fiction, Canada Council and BC Arts Council grant recipient. She is author of  two fiction collections, Embers Amongst the Fallen, and A Body of Work, and two poetry collections, I Dreamed a World, and The Lore of Inscrutable Dreams. http://www.colleenanderson.wordpress.com]