Page:The poetical works of Matthew Arnold, 1897.djvu/160

122 Into the smoke-wrapt sea, and night came on.

Then the wind fell, with night, and there was calm;

But through the dark they watched the burning ship

Still carried o'er the distant waters on,

Farther and farther, like an eye of fire.

And long, in the far dark, blazed Balder's pile;

But fainter, as the stars rose high, it flared;

The bodies were consumed, ash choked the pile.

And as, in a decaying winter-fire,

A charred log, falling, makes a shower of sparks,—

So with a shower of sparks the pile fell in,

Reddening the sea around; and all was dark.

But the gods went by starlight up the shore

To Asgard, and sate down in Odin's hall

At table, and the funeral-feast began.

All night they ate the boar Serimner's flesh,

And from their horns, with silver rimmed, drank mead,

Silent, and waited for the sacred morn.

And morning over all the world was spread.

Then from their loathèd feast the gods arose,

And took their horses, and set forth to ride

O'er the bridge Bifrost, where is Heimdall's watch,

To the ash Igdrasil, and Ida's plain.

Thor came on foot, the rest on horseback rode.

And they found Mimir sitting by his fount

Of wisdom, which beneath the ash-tree springs;

And saw the Nornies watering the roots

Of that world-shadowing tree with honey-dew.

There came the gods, and sate them down on stones;

And thus the Father of the ages said:—

"Ye gods, the terms ye know, which Hermod brought.

Accept them or reject them! both have grounds.

Accept them, and they bind us, unfulfilled,