In autumn 1989 a friend asked if me to find and rewrite some verses from the Egyptian Book of the Dead for use as a "rowing song" to be sung as part of a guided meditation for a Samhain ritual. This song is the result.

My husband wants me to sing it at his funeral.

ROWING SONG

© 1989, 2004 Claire Beorn Norman

Spin and dance, dance for tomorrow.
Sing and chant and forget your sorrow.
Cast aside your flesh and leave it far behind you;
Throw away your long bone, let the water bind you.

I return to the rhythm of the water.
I am the dark song deep within my mother.
I am a goddess and I dance at midnight;
You are a god and full of starlight.

Chorus:        Row and row, with your spirit bending.
Row and row to the journey's ending.
Row and row and gaze in the water.
Row and row, Death's son and daughter.

Green words fly from the mouth of a god.
Ground and baked, they are red as blood,
Red as the hawk's eye burning at the riverbend,
Red as the phoenix, perfect food for dead men.

This our boat is carved from the cypress
Green and strong as the voice of a goddess.
My gaze rises from the world surrounding
To the silver stars like river fishes bounding.

(Chorus)

Boats glide past in the cold black water.
Slick river drips from every paddle.
Death ferries us unto a distant shore while
Striped fish jump in silence on the dark Nile.

I have known terrors in the night,
Eaters of flesh with an evil bite.
I have known much anger and hatred,
Terror in the daytime unexpected.

(Chorus)

May light shine in us, through us, and on.
May we die each night and be born each dawn.
May we love and laugh and sing together.
May we live forever, may we live forever.


The tune is borrowed from Martin Carthy's song, "The Dominion of the Sword" (recorded on Right of Passage, Topic Records, 1988). That song was itself remade from a 17th century political rant of the same name with much original material by Carthy. He set it to an adaptation of a Breton pipe tune called "Ar Ch'akouz" ("The Leper").

I vividly recall opening the Egyptian Book of the Dead, reading a few couplets, and feeling the words pour forth in a flood. I wrote them down as fast as I could before the literary waters receded. I no longer remember which images came from the book and which sprang from some mysterious source within me.

Be careful with this song; it has power.

Claire