THE MAIDEN WAY

IS THIS THE WAY TO MAGNA?

AND IS THERE PLACE OF CALL?

Through high and windy weather,

Through continents of heather,

Without an inn at all

The Maiden Way to Magna

Ceases upon the Wall.

AND IS THERE ANY OTHER

WILL RIDE THE MAIDEN WAY,

A COMRADE OR A BROTHER

TO TALK WITH IF I MAY?

A guide, a fellow rider

Here there was never known;

Who rides the way to Magna

Must surely ride alone.

THROUGH SAFE OR SAVAGE COUNTRY

LIES THEN THE MAIDEN WAY?

AND MUST I RIDE IN THE DARK NIGHT

OR ONLY RIDE BY DAY?

You ride by night and day, brother;

Wolf lurks and Picts brawl;

No safety for you till you see

The watch-fires on the Wall.

WILL IT BE REST I FIND ME

WHEN TO THE WALL I COME?

A day or two of resting,

An hour or two of jesting,

Of banqueting a crumb;

Then you ride on from Magna

Unto Bremenium,

By the great road; the straight road

That strikes into the North.

The trumpets of the mountain wind

Shall hail you faring forth.

The wild harp of the mountain rain

Shall greet you as you go

Riding away from Magna

In a land we hardly know,

 BUT, 0, IS THERE REST FROM TRAVEL

A HAVEN FOR ONE AND ALL

A ROOF FROM THE WINDY WEATHER?

No! Still through worlds of heather

The curlews call and call,

And somewhere in the moving mists

There is another Wall.

But there’s joy in the hills, brother,

For all the mist is grey,

There’s a light beyond our knowing,

And a clean wind blowing,

A singing in the day,

A music in your mind from

Worlds and worlds away.

So ride you well, my brother,

And maybe, when you can,

You may change a steed, or tether

And rest with him together

In starlight on the heather

Alone as you began.

On the road of the lost legions

Ride well, 0 son of man.