Page:Rudyard Kipling's verse - Inclusive Edition 1885-1918.djvu/579

 INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 561

Ever 'neath high Valhalla Hall the well-tuned horns begin, When the swords are out in the underworld, and the weary Gods

come in.

Ever through high Valhalla Gate the Patient Angel goes He opens the eyes that are blind with hate he joins the hands

of foes.

Dust of the stars was under our feet, glitter of stars above Wrecks of our wrath dropped reeling down as we fought and

we spurned and we strove. Worlds upon worlds we tossed aside, and scattered them to

and fro, The night that we stormed Valhalla, a million years ago!

They are forgiven as they forgive all those dark wounds and deep, Their beds are made on the Lap of Time and they lie down and

sleep.

They are forgiven as they forgive all those old wounds that bleed. They shut their eyes from their worshippers; they sleep till the

world has need.

She with the star I had marked for my own I with my set

desire Lost in the loom of the Night of Nights lighted by worlds

afire Met in a war against the Gods where the headlong meteors

glow, Hewing our way to Valhalla, a million years ago!

They will come back come back again, as long as the red Earth rolls.

He never wasted a leaf or a tree. Do you think He would squan- der souls ?