Page:The poetical works of Matthew Arnold, 1897.djvu/154

116 In Asgard; and the golden halls were dumb.

Then Hermod knew what labor held the gods;

And through the empty streets he rode, and passed

Under the gate-house to the sands, and found

The gods on the seashore by Balder's ship.

gods held talk together, grouped in knots,

Round Balder's corpse, which they had thither borne;

And Hermod came down towards them from the gate.

And Lok, the father of the serpent, first

Beheld him come, and to his neighbor spake,—

"See, here is Hermod, who comes single back

From hell; and shall I tell thee how he seems?

Like as a farmer, who hath lost his dog,

Some morn, at market, in a crowded town,—

Through many streets the poor beast runs in vain,

And follows this man after that, for hours;

And late at evening, spent and panting, falls

Before a stranger's threshold, not his home,

With flanks a-tremble, and his slender tongue

Hangs quivering out between his dust-smeared jaws,

And piteously he eyes the passers-by;

But home his master comes to his own farm,

Far in the country, wondering where he is,—

So Hermod comes to-day unfollowed home."

And straight his neighbor, moved with wrath, replied,—

"Deceiver! fair in form, but false in heart!

Enemy, mocker, whom, though gods, we hate,—

Peace, lest our father Odin hear thee gibe!

Would I might see him snatch thee in his hand,