A sceptre or a grave; a triumph or defeat.

Immovable they sit, mute as the grave,

Like sphinx of marble on the Theban plain;

While shine reflected in the limpid wave

The figures of the awful virgin train.

Impatient the decrees of fate to learn

Oft to this grove the proud Valkyrior come;

With questions sharp assail the Nornor stern,

Then soar aloft, through the wide world to roam,

And fill the troubled air with strange prophetic doom.