------------------------------------------------------- Into hiding / Amorphis (Tales from the thousand lakes) The islander slips into hiding and takes to his heels out of dark Northland the musky house of Sarah he whirled out of doors as snow arrives as smoke in the yard to flee from bad deeds There he had to become someone else he must change his shape as an eagle he swept up wanted to soar heavenward the sun burnt his cheeks the moon lit his brows ------------------------------------------------------- The castaway / Amorphis (Tales from the thousand lakes) A bird flew out of Lapland an eagle from the North East One wing ruffled the water and the other swept the sky It's tail skimmed the sea It flutters, it glides it looks, it turns round "Why, man are you in the sea fellow, among the billows?" ------------------------------------------------------- First doom / Amorphis (Tales from the thousand lakes) The mountains of North shall erupt and flames of darkland will raise Hail to one who hails Blood for one who bleeds O you mistress of northland queen of darkland I may wash my hands of the evil master's blood For that is no man's doom which I bring that is child's doom and it shall be the First doom ------------------------------------------------------- Black winter day / Amorphis (Tales from the thousand lakes) This is how the lucky feel how the blessed think like daybreak in spring the sun on a spring morning But how do I feel in my gloomy depths? Like the flat brink of a cloud like a dark night in autumn a black winter day no, darker than that gloomier than an autumn night ------------------------------------------------------- Drowned maid / Amorphis (Tales from the thousand lakes) I went to wash at the shore I went to bathe in the sea and there I, a hen, was lost I, a bird untimely died Let not my brother ever in this world water his war-horse upon the seashore! Waters of the sea so much blood of mine fishes of the sea so much flesh of mine such the death of the young maid end of the fair little hen ------------------------------------------------------- In the beginning / Amorphis (Tales from the thousand lakes) I have a good mind take into my head to start of singing began reciting We seldom get together and meet each other on these poor borders the luckless lands of the north Those words we have got from the North's furthest fields, from the heaths of Kalevala ------------------------------------------------------- Forgotten sunrise / Amorphis (Tales from the thousand lakes) Once I had a mind and thoughts was given But nowadays, in this evil age all my sense is somewhere else Once I had a soul I was one with my god But now I am abandoned banished from these lies Long my tale's been in the cold for ages has lain hidden I know how to bewitch fire and how to fame flames I know how to banish worms and turn snakes away ------------------------------------------------------- To fathers cabin / Amorphis (Tales from the thousand lakes) O old man, good god carefull man of heaven keeper of storm clouds make misty weather and create a tiny cloud in whose shelter I may go ------------------------------------------------------- Magic and mayhem / Amorphis (Tales from the thousand lakes) Hey there, tiny wench my perpetual serf put stew in a pot bring water for the guest Before we part before your neck is broken you strike first son of the north ------------------------------------------------------- Better unborn / Amorphis (Elect) Better it would be for me And better it would have been Had I not been born, not grown Not been brought into the world Not had to come to this earth Not been suckled for the world If I'd died a three-night-old Been lost in my swaddling band I'd have needed but a span of cloth A span more of wood, But a cubit of good earth Two words from the priest Three verses from the cantor One clang from the bell ------------------------------------------------------- Against widows / Amorphis (Elect) The Devil weds a widow Death another's leftovers Better to lie on a willows Rest on alder boughs Than upon a widow's pillow On a used woman's pillow Sweeter the side of a fence Than a widow's flank Softer the side of a grove Than a widow's beside is The Devil weds a widow The grave one twice wed A widow's hand is rougher Than a dry spruce bought With which she strikes the playful Grabs the one who laughs A widow has had her games And spent a merry evening ------------------------------------------------------- The orphan / Amorphis (Elect) The calloo's spirits are low Swimming on the chill water But the orphan's are lower Walking down the vilage street The sparrow's belly is chill Sitting on the icy bough But my belly is more chill As I step from glade to glade The dove's heart is cold As it pecks the village rick But I'm colder still As I drink the icy water ------------------------------------------------------- On rich and poor / Amorphis (Elect) Old folk remember And those today learn How before their time Life was different here Without the sun people lived Groped about without the moon With candles sowing was done Planting performed with torches At the time we lived Without the sunshine Who had covered up our sun And who had hidden our moon? Without the moonlight stumbled With our fists fumbled the land With our hands we sought our roads With hands roads, with fingers swamps We could not live without sun Nor manage without moonlight; Who would seek out the sun Who spy out the moon? Who else if not God The one son of God? ------------------------------------------------------- My kantele / Amorphis (Elect) Truly they lie, they talk utter nonsense Who say that music reckon that the kantele Was fashioned by a god Out of a great pike's shoulder From a water-dog's hooked bones: It was made from the grief Moulded from sorrow Its belly out of hard days Its soundboard from endless woes Its strings gathered from torments And its pegs from other ills So it will not play, will not rejoice at all Music will not play to please Give off the right sort of joy For it was fashioned from cares Moulded from sorrow ------------------------------------------------------- Cares / Amorphis (Elect) Many rocks the rapid has A lot of billows the sea More plentyfull are my cares Than cones on a spruce Beard moss on a juniper Gnarls upon a pine bark Knobs upon a fir Husks on a grass-top Boughs on a bad tree Drag my cares away Carry off my griefs For no horse can draw No iron-shod jerk Without the shaft-bow shaking off The cares of this skinny one The sorrows of this black bird ------------------------------------------------------- Song of the troubled one / Amorphis (Elect) What the thrush toils at The partridge asks for The hapless one takes The troubled one steals Puts upon a spade Sets on a runner Hides under a door Shields with a bath-whisk The farmer hammers And tempers his spears Marries off his sons Hands out his daughters In boots clogged with clay In fancy mittens The sea-swell rumbles And the wind it blows And the king hears it From five miles away From six directions From seven backwoods From eight hearts away ------------------------------------------------------- Weeper on the shore / Amorphis (Elect) In the vale where I once listened out for the light Where the little birds warble The ptarmigans babble And my heart looked about for some rest from its trouble I cast my eyes downward upon the seaside And a fair young girl on the shore I espied Who was sitting and weeping To see the waves leaping And over the skyline sad virgil was keeping O why are you weeping alone on the shore? Now still from your eyes I can see the tears poor What sorrow and smart So pierces your heart That even at midnight it will not depart? ------------------------------------------------------- Elegy / Amorphis (Elect) Long evenings full of longing Low-spirited my mornings Full of longing too my nights And all times the bitterest 'Tis my lovely I long for It is my darling I miss My black-browed one I grieve for There's no hearing my treasure No seeing my marten-breast No hearing her in the lane Driving below the window Chopping the wood by the stack Clinking outside the cook-house In the earth my berry lies In the soil she's mouldering Under the sand my sweet one Beneath the grass my treasure The one I grieve for