Video: The Lost Words Blessing

The album The Lost Words: Spell Songs concludes with this song, ‘The Lost Words Blessing.’ It is offered both in hope and light, and in grief for the losses and dark times yet to come.

Karine Polwart suggested the idea of a blessing that borrows images and phrases from many of The Lost Words spells by Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris (Bluebell, Dandelion, Fern, Heather, Heron, Kingfisher, Lark, Otter, Raven and Starling), as well as from new spells (Goldfinch and Grey Seal). The form is inspired by blessings in Scottish Gaelic, particularly from a beautiful collection of charms and incantations called Carmina Gadelica.

Filmed by Elly Photography and edited by Ben Davis.

Running time: 3 minutes

Email subscribers may click on the title of this post to watch the video.

Lyrics:

Enter the wild with care, my love  
And speak the things you see  
Let new names take and root and thrive and grow  
And even as you travel far from heather, crag and river  
May you like the little fisher, set the stream alight with
      glitter  
May you enter now as otter without falter into water
  
Look to the sky with care, my love  
And speak the things you see  
Let new names take and root and thrive and grow  
And even as you journey on past dying stars exploding  
Like the gilded one in flight, leave your little gifts of
      light  
And in the dead of night my darling, find the gleaming eye
      of starling  
Like the little aviator, sing your heart to all dark matter

Walk through the world with care, my love  
And sing the things you see  
Let new names take and root and thrive and grow  
And even as you stumble through machair sands eroding  
Let the fern unfurl your grieving, let the heron still your
      breathing  
Let the selkie swim you deeper, oh my little silver-seeker
Even as the hour grows bleaker, be the singer and the
      speaker  
And in city and in forest, let the larks become your chorus
And when every hope is gone, let the raven call you home