Poem: "The Eye of Mímisbrunnr"

This poem came from the February 8, 2011 Poetry Fishbowl.  It was inspired and sponsored by janetmiles.

Here you can see several features of traditional Norse poetry.  This poem uses heavy alliteration instead of rhyme to create a sense of the poetic.  Each line contains a caesura, or pause, in the middle.  The subject matter draws on Norse mythology about Odin, the World-Tree Yggdrasil, and the well of Mímisbrunnr.

Beneath the broad beams     of Yggdrasil's bole
The well lies waiting,     its wide waters gleaming,
Where the piercing root      passes down to the primordial plane
Of Ginnungagap where      great dreams still glisten, hidden.

Only Odin the Allfather      dares to open the well
And drink deep of its      darkly glowing draught.
Even his eye as payment      is cheap for ever-flowing insight.
Odin gives it gladly,     Draupnir glinting golden on his arm.

Now the eye nestles     there, seeing all, knowing all.
The eye of a god     is a grand and glorious thing.
The well holds it     underwater, under wisdom,
Eternally watchful     as the world rolls down Wyrd's way.