Hugin and Munin

Hugin and Munin on Odin’s shoulders. Source: Wikimedia Commons

Or, Thought and Memory

The former weaves,

Spurred by imagination’s call.

The latter embalms,

Past record of climbs and falls.

In tandem they dart

Through the realms of Mind,

As did All Father

Through the Nine Heims,

Birthing the Children of Time.

One cannot two masters serve;

This we are bidden to learn.

If only

To petrified Memory I cling

Away all hope I fling –

As did Lot’s wife,

Entombed in pillar gray,

When she forfeited Life

For the ghosts of yesterday.

But, in holding fast

To Hugin’s spanning wing,

Hymns of triumph will I sing,

Leaving Munin to enshroud

My dead deeds in Cronus’s ceaseless round.

© Conor MacCormack, 2019