Viking
Song
I bid farewell to you my Viking friend,
As you load your boat to go,
The midnight sun lights a path across the sea,
As you turn away and leave.
Your fathers worked this land in better days,
There was plenty of food and trade and finery,
They built your houses, churches and your farms,
My people were not worthy of your company.
How different things could have been,
Had you chased the caribou and fished the sea,
So much you could have learn't from me,
So much you could have learn't and set your spirit free.
Your people travel the ocean's vast space,
But you forget the ways of old,
You cannot farm without fine soil,
Or feed your children on the winter's snow.
How different things could have been,
Had you chased the caribou and fished the sea,
So much you could have learnt from me,
So much you could have learnt and set your spirit free.
What god is this that you worship,
That does not let you speak to me,
You stay away afraid as your crops fail,
And watch your people die so pointlessly.
How different things could have been,
Had you chased the caribou and fished the sea,
So much you could have learn't from me,
So much you could have learn't and set your spirit free.
Copyright Nick Allmark 2005
The
Vikings settled and farmed in Greenland but after a
period of climate change to colder conditions, the
population started to die from
starvation.
Archaelogists
have found no evidence of unburied bodies and so believe
that the last few survivors packed up and
left.
At
the same time the Inuit population of Greenland thrived .
It is thought that the Vikings were discouraged by
the church from learning about the skills and way
of
life
of the Inuit.