Page:The poetical works of Matthew Arnold, 1897.djvu/162

124 And from the flaming world, where Muspel reigns,

Thou sent'st and fetchedst fire, and madest lights,

Sun, moon, and stars, which thou hast hung in heaven,

Dividing clear the paths of night and day.

And Asgard thou didst build, and Midgard fort;

Then me thou mad'st; of us the gods were born.

Last, walking by the sea, thou foundest spars

Of wood, and framedst men, who till the earth,

Or on the sea, the field of pirates, sail.

And all the race of Ymir thou didst drown,

Save one, Bergelmer: he on shipboard fled

Thy deluge, and from him the giants sprang.

But all that brood thou hast removed far off,

And set by ocean's utmost marge to dwell.

But Hela into Niflheim thou threw'st,

And gav'st her nine unlighted worlds to rule,

A queen, and empire over all the dead.

That empire wilt thou now invade, light up

Her darkness, from her grasp a subject tear?

Try it; but I, for one, will not applaud.

Nor do I merit, Odin, thou shouldst slight

Me and my words, though thou be first in heaven;

For I too am a goddess, born of thee,

Thine eldest, and of me the gods are sprung;

And all that is to come I know, but lock

In mine own breast, and have to none revealed.

Come, then! since Hela holds by right her prey,

But offers terms for his release to heaven,

Accept the chance: thou canst no more obtain.

Send through the world thy messengers; entreat

All living and unliving things to weep

For Balder: if thou haply thus may'st melt

Hela, and win the loved one back to heaven."