Whenever at night, far in the north

I saw the kāvi soldiers (Northern Lights) having their battle,

I was afraid, perhaps they might bring a war to my land, too.

-Latvian Folk Song

It was night, and I had gone on deck several times.

Iceberg was silent; I too was silent. It was true dark and cold.

At nine o’clock I was below in my cabin,

when the captain hailed me with the words:

“Come above, Hall, come above at once, Hall! The world is on fire!”

I knew his meaning, and quick as thought, I rushed to the companion stairs.

In a moment I reached the deck, and as the cabin door swung open,

a dazzling light, overpow’ring light burst upon my startled senses!

Oh, the whole sky was one glowing mass of colored flames,

so mighty, so brave!

Like a pathway of light the northern lights seemed to draw us into the sky.

Yes, it was harp-music, wild storming in the darkness;

the strings trembled and sparkled in the glow of the flames

like a shower of fiery darts.

A fiery crown of auroral light cast a warm glow across the arctic ice.

Like a pathway of light the northern lights seemed to draw us into the sky. Again at times it was like softly playing, gently rocking, silvery waves,

on which dreams travel into unknown worlds.

-From the journals of explorers Charles Francis Hall and Fridtjof Nansen