The Works of The Ettrick Shepherd Centenary Edition. With a Memoir of the Author, by the Rev. Thomas Thomson ... Poems and Life. With Many Illustrative Engravings [by James Hogg] |
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 | The Works of The Ettrick Shepherd |  |
“'Tis known,” said he, “o'er all the lands
Where Odin's heavenly sway expands,
That whosoever dares enthrall
The meanest guide unto his hall,
Or move a tongue his faith to upbraid,
Or hand against his sacred head,
That sinner's blood shall first be spilt
Of all his kindred's, for his guilt.
Therefore I dare the whole decrees
Of those who bow to oaken trees;
Or to the dazzling God of Day;
Or moon, that climbs the Milky Way;
Or to that God, mysterious, mild,
That died and lived, the Virgin's child—
I dare you all by curse unheard,
To wrong a hair of this gray beard;
Or down to Lok the caitiff goes,
The first of Odin's fated foes.”
Where Odin's heavenly sway expands,
That whosoever dares enthrall
The meanest guide unto his hall,
Or move a tongue his faith to upbraid,
Or hand against his sacred head,
That sinner's blood shall first be spilt
Of all his kindred's, for his guilt.
Therefore I dare the whole decrees
Of those who bow to oaken trees;
Or to the dazzling God of Day;
Or moon, that climbs the Milky Way;
Or to that God, mysterious, mild,
That died and lived, the Virgin's child—
I dare you all by curse unheard,
To wrong a hair of this gray beard;
Or down to Lok the caitiff goes,
The first of Odin's fated foes.”
| The Works of The Ettrick Shepherd | |