THE WIDOW'S LEDGER: PAID IN FULL

[Intro]

Ihor rode out every winter for the tribute. Ihor's dead.

I'm not riding every winter. I'll have posts instead.

[Verse 1]

Nine hundred forty-seven. Novgorod. The Msta and the Luga.

A station on each river and a man of mine to run it.

[Verse 2]

Furs by the forty, honey by the barrel, wax by the weight.

Here's the quota, here's the season, here's the day you pay.

No more princes riding round with swords to ask for more.

Ihor asked for more. You know what asking's for.

[Pre-Chorus]

Two parts to Kyiv. One part to Vyshhorod, mine.

Count it in the autumn. Ship it on the river in good time.

[Time]

[Drop]

Pogost! Pogost!

(Хорошо! Давай!)

A post on every river and a quota on each town.

Pogost! Pogost!

Nobody dies collecting when the count is nailed down.

[Drop 2]

(Хорошо! Давай!)

[Verse 3]

I set hunting lodges north of Vyshhorod for hawks.

The Greeks pay gold for falcons. I sell them by the box.

My sledge still stands in Pskov, they say. I don't need it anymore.

A woman with a ledger doesn't ride from door to door.

Twenty years I ran it while my son learned war instead.

The Drevlians pay on time now. Nobody's lost his head.

Nine forty-seven to the Greek gold: this is how you build a state.

Not a sword in every village. A man, a post, a rate.

[Outro]

Two parts to Kyiv.

One to Vyshhorod. Mine.

[Fade Out]

[End]

[Intro]

Down the Dnipro, over the rapids, across the Black Sea.

A widow from the north with forty-three merchants and a priest.

[Verse 1]

Constantinople. Ninth of September. The Magnaura hall.

A golden tree with singing birds. Brass lions. I'm not impressed at all.

[Verse 2]

They sat me with the Empress, not down on the floor.

Five hundred silver pieces on a dish of gold. I've had more.

The dome of Hagia Sophia is a sky somebody built.

The Patriarch pours the water. Constantine stands sponsor. I kneel.

[Pre-Chorus]

I came in Olha: widow, pagan, regent of the Rus'.

I walk out Helena. The emperor's daughter. I know which one I'll use.

[Time]

[Drop]

Helena! Helena!

(Боже мій… Слава!)

They poured the water, I took the name, I took the better deal.

Helena! Helena!

Daughter of the emperor. First on the throne to kneel.

[Drop 2]

(Боже мій… Слава!)

[Verse 3]

Eighteenth of October. Second reception. Dinner with the family.

Two dates the emperor kept himself. That much is history.

The monks at home say Constantine stood sponsor at the font.

The Greeks don't mention it. Believe whichever one you want.

I've seen the light inside that dome. I'm not going back to wood.

Kyiv has a river and a gate. Now Kyiv has a God.

Olha for the Drevlians. Helena for the Greeks.

Both of them are me. Whichever one Kyiv needs.

[Outro]

Helena.

Daughter of the emperor.

[Fade Out]

[End]

[Intro]

He looked at me across the hall. He said: you're fit to reign.

You and I, in this city. I said: baptise me first. Then ask again.

[Verse 1]

He has an empress upstairs and a crown he wants to share.

A widow with a river, that's a dowry anywhere.

[Verse 2]

So he stood at the font himself. He poured. He called me daughter.

That's the thing about a godfather: he's family after.

Church law, Constantine. You taught it to me. You know the line.

Can't marry what you christened. It's your rule, not mine.

[Pre-Chorus]

He went quiet for a minute. Then he laughed, they say.

Olha, you have outwitted me. Gold, silver, silk. Good day.

[Time]

[Drop]

Call me daughter! Call me daughter!

(Нєт, нєт, нєт! Давай!)

You said it at the font, you can't un-say the water.

Call me daughter! Not your bride!

I'll take the God, I'll take the name, and I'll sail home with the tide.

[Drop 2]

(Нєт, нєт, нєт! Давай!)

[Verse 3]

Back in Kyiv, his envoys came for what I'd said I'd send:

Slaves and wax and furs and soldiers, like you'd send a friend.

I said: when your emperor has stood down in the Pochaina

Half as long as I stood in his court, we'll talk. Not before.

I sent them home with nothing. He had called me daughter.

Daughters don't pay tribute. He should have thought of that.

Twenty men once brought me a ring. They're under the courtyard.

An emperor brought me a crown. He's fine. I've gone soft.

[Outro]

Call me daughter.

Olha, you have outwitted me.

[Fade Out]

[End]

[Intro]

Sviatoslav, my son. I've seen it. Kneel with me. It's light.

He says: alone, Mother? My retinue would laugh. Not tonight.

[Verse 1]

I say: if you go first, they'll follow. That's what princes are for.

He says: a prince goes first in battle. He pulls the gate and rides to war.

[Verse 2]

I asked the German king for bishops. Adalbert came north.

He lasted one winter. Some of his men didn't make it home.

My son won't stop a Christian. He just laughs at them in the hall.

A mother can baptise a city. Can't baptise a boy at all.

[Pre-Chorus]

He wants the Danube. Pereyaslavets. Silk and wine and Greek gold.

Kyiv's just his mother's town, and his mother's getting old.

[Time]

[Drop]

They will laugh! They will laugh!

(Пошлі! Давай, давай!)

A thousand men with swords, and the prince is scared of a laugh.

They will laugh! So let them!

I put twenty men in the ground for a ring. Your men can laugh.

[Drop 2]

(Пошлі! Давай, давай!)

[Verse 3]

Nine sixty-eight. The Pechenegs around the walls. He's on the Danube, far.

Me inside with three grandsons: Yaropolk, Oleh, Volodymyr.

A boy swam the Dnipro with a bridle, shouting for his horse.

The relief came. Then my son came. Then he wanted to leave, of course.

I said: you see I'm ill, son. Where are you going? Bury me first.

Then ride to your Danube. Take your gold. Take your silk. Take your thirst.

The smallest at my knee was Volodymyr. He'll do what I couldn't do.

Give him nineteen years. The whole river. That's who.

[Outro]

They will laugh.

Bury me first. Then go.

[Fade Out]

[End]

[Intro]

Eleventh of July, nine sixty-nine. Kyiv. Heat on the river.

No feast for me. No mead on the mound. Gregory knows what to do.

[Verse 1]

I buried twenty men for a ring and five thousand for a cup.

Don't drink to me. Don't raise a mound. Let the priest speak, then that's enough.

[Verse 2]

My son stood dry-eyed. My grandsons cried. That's fine.

Yaropolk, Oleh, Volodymyr. One of the three is mine.

Nineteen years, Volodymyr. You'll bring the whole town to the water.

The Dnipro for a font. You'll finish what I started.

[Pre-Chorus]

Day-spring before the sun. That's what the monks will call me.

Moon by night in a dark land. The light's not mine. It's coming.

[Time]

[Drop]

No feast for me! No feast for me!

(Слава! Слава! Ура!)

I've seen enough of funerals to last eternity.

No feast for me! Just the priest!

The widow's debts are paid in full. Let the widow rest in peace.

[Drop 2]

(Слава! Слава! Ура!)

[Verse 3]

Thirty-eight years later my grandson dug me up, they say.

Not a mark on me. He laid me in his Tithe Church. Fine. I'll stay.

Twelve-forty: Batu's horsemen burned the city, tomb and all.

Fifteen forty-seven, Moscow: Equal to the Apostles. That's the call.

A widow with a boat, a bathhouse, a barrel and some birds.

Equal to the Apostles. I've been called worse.

Olha for the Drevlians. Helena at the font.

Saint for the ones who come after. Take whichever one you want.

[Outro]

No feast for me.

Day-spring. Then the sun.

[Fade Out]

[End]