Mímisbrunnr

Intro

(Mímisbrunnr! Mímisbrunnr!)

Odin paid one eye — I drink every morning...

(Hu-ha!) My head came back preserved — without warning —

The wisest thing they had — no mourning —

(Mímir!) The source behind the source — still pouring...

Verse 1

Before the Allfather knew — he came to the water,

The well beneath the root where the frost runs shorter.

Asked to drink — I looked at what he offered —

One eye against the well — I said: that's proper.

He pressed the eye into the water — didn't flinch it —

Leaned down, drank once — one mouthful — felt him clinch it —

All the wisdom in the well-dark — couldn't limit —

Flooded through one swallow — he could feel the infinite.

I drink each morning — Gjallarhorn the vessel —

The same horn Heimdallr keeps above the trestle.

Every day the well replenishes the wrestle

Of knowing everything — no thought can nestle

Long enough to settle before the next one enters —

That's the cost of the water — wisdom never centers

On one thing — it holds all things — the splinters

Of every world simultaneously — no winters.

I knew the war was coming before Odin schemed —

I knew the wolf, the serpent, everything that teemed —

The berserker's fate, the draugr's choice — I dreamed

It all before the Norns first picked up thread and seamed.

Pre-Chorus

The Vanir felt cheated when they saw what they'd been given (been given)

Hœnir useless without me — every decision driven

By the head they couldn't see — the wisdom hidden —

They took my head back — Odin kept it — that's the system. (uh!)

Chorus

One eye for one drink — that's the well's exchange (the exchange!)

I drink it every morning — that's the full range (the full range!)

Dead and still advising — that's the strangest strange (strangest strange!)

Mímir's head speaks truth — nothing out of range! (Hu-ha!)

Verse 2

They sent me with Hœnir — that was the arrangement —

Æsir hostage to the Vanir — peace engagement.

Hœnir tall and fine — perfect for the statement —

Useless without counsel — that's the misplacement.

They put him at the Thing and watched him waver —

"Ask Mímir" — that was every answer's favour.

When I wasn't present they saw through the paper —

Felt the trick — the knife came quick — no savour.

I watched my own head leave the neck — perspective

Shifts remarkably when you lose that connective

Tissue — but the well-wisdom stays effective —

Death doesn't drain the water — I stay receptive.

Odin got the head back — herbs and dark chanting —

Preserved the thing that mattered — wisdom granting

Beyond the grave — the rarest kind of planting —

A dead man's counsel that keeps on supplanting.

The one-eyed god comes nights when the ravens bring doubt —

I tell him what the well showed — what it's all about.

He listens — goes back to the scheming — works it out —

Behind every plan he made — I was the route.

Pre-Chorus

The Vanir felt cheated when they saw what they'd been given (been given)

Hœnir useless without me — every decision driven

By the head they couldn't see — the wisdom hidden —

They took my head back — Odin kept it — that's the system. (uh!)

Chorus

One eye for one drink — that's the well's exchange (the exchange!)

I drink it every morning — that's the full range (the full range!)

Dead and still advising — that's the strangest strange (strangest strange!)

Mímir's head speaks truth — nothing out of range! (Hu-ha!)

Bridge

You want to know what twenty-nine songs look like

(what do they look like?)

From the well beneath the root in the cold strike?

(from the well...)

I saw every thread before the Norns could splice —

(saw it all...)

Every voice in this series — I paid the price.

The berserker raging on the flesh of Ýmir —

(on the flesh...)

The serpent coiling in the blood-sea — clearer —

(in the blood...)

The Völva I saw speak before she drew nearer —

(saw the Völva...)

Every word of every song — my water — mirror.

Odin came before Ragnarök — last consulting —

(last visit...)

Told him what the well showed — nothing insulting —

(told him true...)

The Allfather rode out with the knowing — resulting

(rode to his end...)

In the only courage that needs no convulsing.

I drink this morning —

(drink this morning...)

The well still full — the root still growing.

(still growing...)

Every world rebuilt — the new green showing —

(new green...)

Mímisbrunnr doesn't close — the water's flowing.

(Skál to the water! Skál — it never runs dry!)

(Mímir drinks every morning — wisdom doesn't die!)

Drop — Instrumental

Chorus

One eye for one drink — that's the well's exchange (the exchange!)

I drink it every morning — that's the full range (the full range!)

Dead and still advising — that's the strangest strange (strangest strange!)

Mímir's head speaks truth — nothing out of range! (Hu-ha!)

Outro

(Mímisbrunnr! Mímisbrunnr!)

The well is still there beneath the root...

(Hu-ha!)

The head still drinks.

Every morning.

Every world.

One eye was enough

to know everything.

(I knew this song

before you wrote it.)