Saluting then the monarch new,
He kissed his brow.
And o'er the broom-heath passed from view,
Silent and slow.
XXIII.
FRIDTIMOF AT HIS FATHER'S GRAVE.
"How brightly smiles the sun, so friendly seeming.
As swift from branch to branch its soft rays glide!
Allfather's light within the dew-drop gleaming,
Is clear and pure as in the ocean wide.
See! all the mountain tops with red are streaming,—
From Balder's altar flows the bloody tide;
In night will shortly sink the world's commotion,
As sinks the golden shield beneath the ocean.
"Yet let me first behold those well known places,
My childhood friends that I have loved so well;
The same sweet beauty still the valley graces,
The same birds yet alight in wood and dell;
The same blue wave the stable rock embraces,—
Oh, would I ne'er had tried its treacherous swell!
It always speaks of fame and high endeavor,
But far from home it bears thee on forever.
"I know thee, stream, whose waters erst were freighted
With swimmer bold, who with thy billows fought!
I know thee, too, thou vale where oft we plighted
Eternal faith! Alas! earth holds it not!
Ye birchen trees, whose bark I carved delighted
With many runes, still wedded to the spot
Your white stems stand, crown-capped with sunshine golden,
All save myself unchanged since days now olden.
"Is all unchanged? Where, then, is Framness' dwelling,
And Balder's temple on the sacred shore?
At thought of childhood's dales my heart is swelling.
But fire and sword devoured them, they're no more.
Of human vengeance, of God's wrath their telling
To wanderers over blackened field and floor;
Thou pious pilgrim, come not here to ponder,
For forest beasts in Balder's grove now wander.
"With Nidhug's curse each human life is teeming,—
The cruel tempter from the land of shade,
He hates the asa-light with glory beaming
On hero's brow and on his shining blade;
Each coward deed, each act of wrathful scenting,
Is his, a tribute unto darkness paid;
He wins when temples burn and gods are slighted,
He claps his coal-black hands and laughs delighted.
"Is there no expiation, radiant heaven?
Thou blue-eyed god, dost thou no penance take?
Man pardons man who has for pardon striven.
When men atone the gods their wrath forsake;
By thee, the mildest one, I'm unforgiven ;—
Command, and any sacrifice I'll make;
No will had Fridthjof in the temple's burning;
Oh! stainless make his shield, thine anger turning.
"Thy burden take away, I cannot bear it,
The dark wood's music in my soul doth cry.
A moment's fault! cannot a life repair it,—
An upright life? Then hear my contrite sigh!
If Thor's fierce bolt should strike, I still would dare it:
Nor shrink to meet the look of Hel's pale eye.
Thou pious god, who moonlight glances bendest,
'Tis thee I fear, and vengeance which thou sendest.