March 5, 2024

The Northern lights were dancing,

On the waves across the sea.

The stars of heaven hovered,

Across our shimmering galaxy.

�A refrain from down the ages,

So haunting in its song.

These ancient isles shall tell us,

Our love must make us strong.

�The wind it swirled around me,

As we stood there off the shore,

And listened to their song,

Like we never heard before.

The whalers they may find them,

No choice may ours to be.

Yet we defend life proudly,

For this truth will set us free.

Memories recalled across the years,

Of rages and of strife,

Of cetacean misery,

And the horrific waste of life.

We wondered where love was,

In the face of so much pain.

I looked into the sea below,

To find it once again.

We traveled the wide oceans,

Heard many call us names.

With harpoon and gun and hatred,

The insanity of human games.

�Some used the whales for glory,

Some use them for their gain.

�But our crew intervenes,

To cleanse the cruel human stain.

�Is it not our place to wonder,

As the sea does weep with tears,

And all the ocean’s creatures,

Look on with mortal fear.

It is ours to hold the trident,

It is ours to hold it long,

�It is ours to voyage forward,

�Our love must make us strong.

With the trident in one hand,

From the sea we look,

We try to regain the balance,

To return what man has took.

�And as the cold wind carried,

The whale’s song into the night.

We closed our eyes and dreamt,

Until the morning light.

We saw the pilots swimming,

They did swim into our lee,

It was in this magic moment,

Came this song from mother sea.

�Our hearts were all a dancing,

On the waves, out on the sea.

The whales turned from the shore,

And from the islands they did flee.

A host of ghosts on the beaches,

So haunting in their song,

These ancient isles have shown us,

That our love has made us strong.

– By Captain Paul Watson

Inspired by and with lines borrowed from Beneath a Phrygian Sky

By Loreena McKennitt

Foto: Palli Ásbjørnsson Justesen

#faroes #Grindadrap #faroese #pilotwhales