Know/Gnaw/Naglfar - The Opem That Disappeared Under The Water

How can I explain to you that this boat is a symbol,
To be converted into a system,
Through correspondences,
Well, isn't everything?
Almost expecting that this should bare,
Any more significance,
Than an apple or a snake,
Your way of life or your religion;
However, this is where you stand,
For goodness sake,
Or otherwise,
Led to this image,
By your God's own hand,
Guidance from beyond the skies,
Or by nothing,
Pure coincidence,
Or even fate,
If you believe in that sort of thing,
In any case,
Here you are,
So let's muse at the mythic ship,
That's called the Naglfar...

Down a current floating,
In the run off collective subconsciousness,
Streaming alongside the figurative,
From the mountain of information,
Yet to be conceived of,
It took some time to ossify,
No form or figure taken,
No title given,
Until caught and named by the fish hook,
Of tales from the Scandinavian,
It may before have been a thought,
Although the memory was lost,
But they saw something like a ship,
Not belonging to a fleet,
Entirely composed of nails,
Indeed, from the hands and feet,
Of those who've passed beyond the veil,
Who had not been buried properly,
Like a testament of sorts,
To everything unholy,
And when enough were deemed so damned,
The ship that never came from land,
Would be seen sailing itself,
Toward our inevitable end,
Approaching a field called Vigrith,
Where the gods themselves do battle,
And after the world sinks under Water,
The ocean from whence we came,
And all might grow anew from this,
Beginning is the end is the beginning again.

From a colourful,
Alchemical laboratory,
Is a chapter tacked onto the story,
Quite some time later,
About seven hundred years,
There came an alchemist and painter,
Seeking to allay his fears,
He made the Great Work of his life,
From acrylic, resin, rust and earth,
And though he was at times unsure,
He knew in this there was much worth,
Stumbling upon the remnants,
Of the ancient and forgotten boat,
Inspiration like a catalyst,
Worthy of devotion,
And like those people earlier,
He saw the ship amongst the stars,
This artist sought to expound,
The concept of the Viking's Naglfar,
A vessel embodying at first,
Seemingly obscure conception,
Had several parts of which,
It was comprised,
Some philosophical perception,
Could definitely be devised,
So he labeled all of its pieces,
The prow or bow, the front,
Certain ideology,
Contrasted by the stern or back,
Representing self-identity,
The starboard to the wrong and right,
A shadow which by day is night,
The keel hankers and it questions,
Any natural progression,
And the ribs,
Ever Gnawing at our origins...

(And I Know this,
No, I Know this,
Naw, I Gnaw this,
Naught in Rows,
Kiss,
The Knot-Work bliss,
This is Naught,
At All,
And yet, it IS...)

Do we know our limits and what binds us,
As we are forward moving,
In confinement,
A craft that should surely sink,
Instead compelling us to think,
The breaking down of definitions,
Expansion, contraction,
Cosmic knee-jerk reaction,
Signifier signifying,
It's own perpetual distraction,
All boiling down to,
Abstraction attempting to specify,
There being nothing that we wouldn't do,
To fit the foot inside a smaller shoe,
To make what's concave convex,
Terminate an outdated hex,
Terminology so beaten,
Begins to bleed between the sheets,
Gap of ingenuity growing,
As we gnaw at deeper knowing,
The scratching out of meaning,
Impersonal idiosynchronicity,
It is preconception that has sank into the sea,
Severing the vanity,
Encompassing humanity,
Organic cosmological procession,
Bringing us to a concession,
Its own climax of sorts,
Outside external internal obsession,
All the elements and portents,
Parts of the nothing found in something,
In anything that we've been shown,
As we gnaw for deeper meaning,
By scratching out what's known.

clik

Naglfar in the City of Pyramids/Naglfar on the Mons Philosophorum II

Acrylic and Layers of Encrusted Earth

2.5 X 5 feet

Autumn 2009

by: Frater Tham

03/07/2010 - 11:56PM

This poem, based off the series "Know / Gnaw / Naglfar" by Darcy Logan aka Frater Thamiel was on display in a piece of art at the Yates Memorial Center in Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada, in the gallery on the 2nd floor from March 6th, until April 3rd, 2010.