Page:The poetical works of Matthew Arnold, 1897.djvu/145

Rh And in Valhalla, from his gable-perch,

The golden-crested cock began to crow.

Hereafter, in the blackest dead of night,

With shrill and dismal cries that bird shall crow,

Warning the gods that foes draw nigh to heaven;

But now he crew at dawn, a cheerful note,

To wake the gods and heroes to their tasks.

And all the gods and all the heroes woke.

And from their beds the heroes rose, and donned

Their arms, and led their horses from the stall,

And mounted them, and in Valhalla's court

Were ranged; and then the daily fray began.

And all day long they there are hacked and hewn

'Mid dust, and groans, and limbs lopped off, and blood;

But all at night return to Odin's hall

Woundless and fresh: such lot is theirs in heaven.

And the Valkyries on their steeds went forth

Toward earth and fights of men; and at their side

Skulda, the youngest of the Nornies, rode;

And over Bifrost, where is Heimdall's watch,

Past Midgard fortress, down to earth they came;

There through some battle-field, where men fall fast,

Their horses fetlock-deep in blood, they ride,

And pick the bravest warriors out for death,

Whom they bring back with them at night to heaven,

To glad the gods, and feast in Odin's hall.

But the gods went not now, as otherwhile,

Into the tilt-yard, where the heroes fought,

To feast their eyes with looking on the fray;

Nor did they to their judgment-place repair

By the ash Igdrasil, in Ida's plain,

Where they hold council, and give laws for men.

But they went, Odin first, the rest behind,