Page:The collected works of Henrik Ibsen (Heinemann Volume 4).djvu/105

 Sporting with crazy wenches:— and accursed stuff!

[Gazes long upwards.   Yonder sail two brown eagles. Southward the wild geese fly. And here I must splash and stumble In quagmire and filth knee-deep! [Springs up.

I'll fly too! I will wash myself clean in The bath of the keenest winds! I'll fly high! I will plunge myself fair in The glorious christening-font! I will soar far over the sæter; I will ride myself pure of soul; I will forth o'er the salt sea waters, And high over Engelland's prince! Ay, gaze as ye may, young maidens; My ride is for none of you; You're wasting your time in waiting—! Yet maybe I'll swoop down, too.— What has come of the two brown eagles—? They've vanished, the devil knows where!— There's the peak of a gable rising; It's soaring on every hand; It's growing from out the ruins;— See, the gateway is standing wide! Ha-ha, yonder house, I know it; It's grandfather's new-built farm! Gone are the clouts from the windows; The crazy old fence is gone. The lights gleam from every casement; There's a feast in the hall to-night. There, that was the provost clinking The back of his knife on his glass;— There's the captain flinging his bottle, And shivering the mirror to bits.—