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The Sea-King

A metrical romance, in six cantos. With notes, historical and illustrative. By J. Stanyan Bigg
Bigg, J. Stanyan (1828-1865)
  
[dedication]

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[section]
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THE SEA-KING.
 I. 
CANTO I. The Legend of Otlauga.
collapse sectionII. 
CANTO II. The Scald.
 I. 
I.
 II. 
II.
 III. 
III.
 IV. 
IV.
 V. 
V.
  
THE SCALD'S TALE.
  
THE SCALD'S TALE, continued.
  
The Valkyries' Chorus.
  
THE SCALD'S TALE concluded.
expand sectionIII. 
CANTO III. The Legend of Ragnar Lodbrog.
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CANTO IV. The Tomb of Orvar.
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CANTO V. The Mysteries.
 VI. 
CANTO VI. The Recognition.

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118

VI.

From blazing basements all of burnished gold,
Thin spiral shafts of inwrought gems arise:
What rich devices rare and old
Break on the Sea-King's feeble eyes!
The wond'rous capitals defy his gaze,
And pour a stream of ever varying rays.
The bright entablature, the cornice gay,
Bask in the beams of one eternal day.
The erubescent garnet, there is seen,
The azure sapphire, and the jasper green;
The yellow topaz, with its golden glare,
And purple amethyst, all beaming there.
But from the lucent roof, the pendant lights
Diffused a radiance glorious to behold;
Revealing strange unwonted sights
Which never could be told.—
Those lights, no earthly power could raise;
No earthly power could quench their blaze!
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