Page:The collected works of Henrik Ibsen (Heinemann Volume 3).djvu/57



[After a pause.]

This was a church-goer, like the rest. Mountain- or Dale-church, which is best? Which wildest reel, which blindest grope, Which furthest roam from home and hope:— Light-heart who, crown'd with leafage gay, Loves by the dizziest verge to play,— Faint-heart, who marches slack and slow, Because old Wont will have it so;— Wild-heart, who, borne on lawless wings, Sees fairness in the foulest things? War front and rear, war high and low, With this fell triple-banded foe! I see my Call! It gleams ahead Like sunshine through a loop-hole shed! I know my task; these demons slain, The sick Earth shall grow sound again;— Once let them to the grave be given, The fever-fumes of Earth shall fly! Up, Soul, array thee! Sword from thigh! To battle for the heirs of Heaven!

[He descends to the hamlet.