Gold inside for the king!”
Whirling his war-ax over his head,
He cleft each plate into four.
“Gather them up, O thanes,” he said,
“For the workfolk at the door.
“Give them this for the morrow’s meat,
Then shall we feast in accord:
Our half of a loaf will then be sweet—
Sweet as the bread of the Lord!”
—From “The Shoes of Happiness and Other Poems.” Copyright by Doubleday, Page & Co., and used by kind permission of author and publisher.