 | The Complete Poetical Works of Robert Buchanan |  |
I.
‘Balder! Balder!’
And Balder said,
Turning round his gentle head,
‘I hear!’
Turning round his gentle head,
‘I hear!’
‘And thou, my servant Death,
Kneeling low with hushëd breath,
While my hand is on thy hair!’
Kneeling low with hushëd breath,
While my hand is on thy hair!’
Death made answer, kneeling there,
‘I hear!’
‘I hear!’
‘At last the cold snows cease,
The white world is hush'd in peace,
The sky is clear, the storm has gone,
Stars are rising to light us on—
In the north the moon grows gray,—
Take my hand and come away!’
The white world is hush'd in peace,
The sky is clear, the storm has gone,
Stars are rising to light us on—
In the north the moon grows gray,—
Take my hand and come away!’
‘Whither, O Whither?’
‘To the City strange wherein
Dwell the mighty gods thy kin;—
O Balder, lead me thither!’
Dwell the mighty gods thy kin;—
O Balder, lead me thither!’
‘Across the darkness and the day,
Long and dreary is the way—
O'er chill wastes of misery,
Past the silent Frozen Sea,
Where the white bears lean and old
Run and shiver in the cold—
Where the vast ice-mountains rise
Violet-blue against the skies,
Then across the wondrous Bow
Only gods and ghosts may tread,—
Beyond the sea, above the snow,
Where the sunfire fadeth red;
There the night lies and no day—
Long and weary is the way—
O Brother, fare not thither!’
Long and dreary is the way—
O'er chill wastes of misery,
Past the silent Frozen Sea,
Where the white bears lean and old
Run and shiver in the cold—
Where the vast ice-mountains rise
Violet-blue against the skies,
Then across the wondrous Bow
Only gods and ghosts may tread,—
Beyond the sea, above the snow,
Where the sunfire fadeth red;
There the night lies and no day—
Long and weary is the way—
O Brother, fare not thither!’
‘Broken is the wintry night,
Rising yonder is the light;
Half our task is yet to do—
Come! and thou, Death, follow too—
O Balder, lead me thither!’
Rising yonder is the light;
Half our task is yet to do—
Come! and thou, Death, follow too—
O Balder, lead me thither!’
Far away across the gloom,
Rose-red like a rose in bloom,
Flashing, changing, ray by ray,
Glorious as the ghost of day,
Gleam'd in one vast aureole
Shifting splendours of the pole.
All across the vault of blue
Shooting lights and colours flew,
And the milky way shone there
Like a bosom white and bare,
Throbbing, trembling, softly moved
By some heart that lived and loved.
Night was broken, and grew bright.
All the countless lamps of light
Swinging, flashing, near and far,
Cast their glittering rays below,—
While the silvern polar star
Throbb'd close down upon the snow. . . .
Rose-red like a rose in bloom,
481
Glorious as the ghost of day,
Gleam'd in one vast aureole
Shifting splendours of the pole.
All across the vault of blue
Shooting lights and colours flew,
And the milky way shone there
Like a bosom white and bare,
Throbbing, trembling, softly moved
By some heart that lived and loved.
Night was broken, and grew bright.
All the countless lamps of light
Swinging, flashing, near and far,
Cast their glittering rays below,—
While the silvern polar star
Throbb'd close down upon the snow. . . .
‘Take my hand, and let us go!’
| The Complete Poetical Works of Robert Buchanan | |