SLAM!

"Invalid Item" 

somewhere
east of the sun
or west of the moon
in the roots of the world tree
where the world’s heartbeat
is the wind’s breath
and fate is a gardener
fighting time and root rot
I found him

I knelt at his well
to give him greeting
looking toward the fountain of his hair
but the eye blue and piercing as Odin
threw me back

his voice was gentle as lightning
loud as laughter
strong as the serpent who circles the world
and I shook to hear him

what would you give
for what this wellspring offers
an eye? an ear? a hand? a tongue?
what is knowledge worth?

my voice was pale and thin
when I answered him

I’ve pursued it with my life
my time
my maidenhood
my age
my friends
my dreams
I am nothing but my pursuit
take everything that I am

and so I drew my knife
and cut my heart out
to throw into the well

he caught it with laughing hands
the fountain ran with my blood
for a moment
then he gave it back to me

not enough
he told me

the wound closed over my sacrifice
and I had nothing more to give



Mimisbrunnr is the well of knowledge that is found in the roots of Yggdrasil, the world tree of Norse mythos. It is guarded by Mimir, one of the Vanir who was thought of as especially wise (mostly because he drank regularly from the fountain), and who was a living head. There is a high price to drink the waters--Odin paid with his right eye. Yggdrasil had two other wells--one of which was guarded by the Norns, who tried to save the world tree from entropy by smearing mud on it. The winds lived in its branches.