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PDFAh! when thy Balder comes back, and bears from the heart of the Sun Peace and the healing of pain, and the wisdom that waiteth no more; And the lilies are laid on thy brow ’mid the crown of the deeds thou hast done; And the roses spring up by thy feet that the rocks of the wilderness wore. Ah! when thy Balder comes back and we gather the gains he hath won, Shall we not linger a little to talk of thy sweetness of old, Yea, turn back awhile to thy travail whence the Gods stood aloof to behold?
THE RAVEN AND THE KING’S DAUGHTER
THE RAVEN
King’s daughter sitting in tower so high, Fair summer is on many a shield. Why weepest thou as the clouds go by? Fair sing the swans ’twixt firth and field. Why weepest thou in the window-seat Till the tears run through thy fingers sweet?
THE KING’S DAUGHTER
I weep because I sit alone
Betwixt these walls of lime and stone.
Fair folk are in my father’s hall,
But for me he built this guarded wall.
And here the gold on the green I sew
Nor tidings of my true-love know.
THE RAVEN
King’s daughter, sitting above the sea,
I shall tell thee a tale shall gladden thee.
Yestreen I saw a ship go forth
When the wind blew merry from the north.
And by the tiller Steingrim sat,
And O, but my heart was glad thereat!
For ’twixt ashen plank and dark blue sea
His sword sang sweet of deeds to be.
THE KING’S DAUGHTER
O barren sea, thou bitter bird,
And a barren tale my ears have heard.
THE RAVEN
Thy father’s men were hard thereby
In byrny bright and helmet high.
THE KING’S DAUGHTER
O worser waxeth thy story far,
For these drew upon me bolt and bar.
Fly south, O fowl, to the field of death
For nothing sweet thy grey neb saith.
THE RAVEN
O, there was Olaf the lily-rose,
As fair as any oak that grows.
THE KING’S DAUGHTER
O sweet bird, what did he then
Among the spears of my father’s men?
THE RAVEN
’Twixt ashen plank and dark blue sea,
He sang: My true love waiteth me.
THE KING’S DAUGHTER
As well as this dull floor knows my feet,
I am not weary yet, my sweet.
THE RAVEN
He sang: As once her hand I had,
Her lips at last shall make me glad.
