Long Sigurd gazeth on Gunnar, till he sees, as through a cloud,
  The long black locks of the Niblung, and the King’s face set and proud: 
  Then the face is alone on the dark, and the dusky Niblung mail
  Is nought but the night before him:  then whiles will the visage fail,
  And grow again as he gazeth, black hair and gleaming eyes,
  And fade again into nothing, as for more of vision he tries: 
  Then all is nought but the night, yea the waste of an emptier thing,
  And the fire-wall Sigurd forgetteth, nor feeleth the hand of the King: 
  Nay, what is it now he remembereth? it is nought that aforetime he knew,
  And no world is there left him to live in, and no deed to rejoice in or rue;
  But frail and alone he fareth, and as one in the sphere-stream’s drift,
  By the starless empty places that lie beyond the lift: 
  Then at last is he stayed in his drifting, and he saith, It is blind and
       dark;
  Yet he feeleth the earth at his feet, and there cometh a change and a spark,
  And away in an instant of time is the mirk of the dreamland rolled,
  And there is the fire-lit midnight, and before him an image of gold,
  A man in the raiment of Gods, nor fashioned worser than they: 
  Full sad he gazeth on Sigurd from the great wide eyes and grey;
  And the Helm that Aweth the people is set on the golden hair,
  And the Mail of Gold enwraps him, and the Wrath in his hand is bare.

  Then Sigurd looks on his arm and his hand in his brother’s hand,
  And thereon is the dark grey mail-gear well forged in the southern land;
  Then he looks on the sword that he beareth, and, lo, the eager blade
  That leaps in the hand of Gunnar when the kings are waxen afraid;
  And he turns his face o’er his shoulder, and the raven-locks hang down
  From the dark-blue helm of the Dwarf-folk, and the rings of the Niblung
       crown.

  Then a red flush riseth against him in the face ne’er seen before,
  Save dimly in the mirror or the burnished targe of war,
  And the foster-brethren sunder, and the clasped hands fall apart;
  But a change cometh over Sigurd, and the fierce pride leaps in his heart;
  He knoweth the soul of Gunnar, and the shaping of his mind;
  He seeketh the words of Sigurd, and Gunnar’s voice doth he find,
  As he cries:  “I know thy bidding; let the world be lief or loth,
  The child is unborn that shall hearken how Sigurd rued his oath! 
  Well fare thou brother Gunnar! what deed shall I do this eve
  That I shall never repent of, that thine heart shall never grieve? 
  What deed shall I do this even that none else may bring to the birth,
  Nay, not the King of the Niblungs, and the lord of the best of the earth?”

  The flames rolled up to the heavens, and the stars behind were bright,
  Dark Hogni sat on his war-steed, and stared out into the night,
  And there stood Gunnar the King in Sigurd’s semblance wrapped,
  —­As Sigurd walking in slumber, for in Grimhild’s guile was he lapped,
  That his heart forgat his glory, and the ways of Odin’s lords,
  And the thought was frozen within him, and the might of spoken words.