A Charm for Singers (poem)

The Aino Myth, triptych, 1891. by Akseli Gallen-Kallela

Here is an audio recording of “A Charm for Singers” read and written by Jane Piirto

“He told Origins in depth and spells in order.

Runo 8, Kalevala

when Aino went into the sea

when the young girl drowned in life’s essence

when the songs of the Vellamo maidens

called the virgin like sirens to home

Väinämoinen fished for the virgin

the old singer’s grief caught his salmon

when the line caught the beautiful fish

the young flesh, the virginal maiden

do not weave with your silk seining nets

do not send your daughters to marry

old men without love

woe quells their magical songs

the beautiful voice of the singer

the birdsong of mocking embrace

in the fish and the cliff under water

in the marble betrayal of bread

in the homely bread of the wife

in the rising dough of the mother

in the yeast and the kneading of touch

you must sing a grief lay at sauna

in old songs of cuckoos and warblers

hornets hum in birch bark bush

seek your song in the flight of the bear

you must sing up the virginal girl

do not wed old men’s divinations

block your ears to old Vellamo’s lays

in the caverns of Tuonela’s whirlpool

tell your spells to the sound of the waves

Publication history:

Piirto, J. (1996). A Charm for Singers. Between the Memory and the Experience. Sisu Press.