She said: "O welcome hither! for the heart of the King I knew,
And thine hope that overcometh, and thy will that nought shall undo."
"Unbidden I came," he answered, "yet it is but a little space
Since I heard thy voice on the mountain, and thy kind lips cherished my face."
She rose from the dark-blue raiment, and trembling there she stood,
And no word her lips had gotten that her heart might deem it good:
And his heart went forth to meet her, yet nought he moved for a while,
Until the God-kin's laughter brake blooming from a smile
And he cried: "It is good, O Brynhild, that we draw exceeding near,
Lest Odin mock Kings' children that the doom of fate they fear."
Then forth she stepped from the high-seat, and forth from the threshold he came,
Till both their bodies mingling seemed one glory and the same,
And far o'er all fulfilment did the souls within them long,
As at breast and at lips of the faithful the earthly love strained strong;
And fresh from the deeps of the summer the breeze across them blew,
But nought of the earth's desire, or the lapse of time they knew.
Then apart, but exceeding nigh, for a little while they stand,
Till Brynhild toucheth her lord, and taketh his hand in her hand,
And she leadeth him through the chamber, and sitteth down in her seat;
And him she setteth beside her, and she saith:
"It is right and meet
That thou sit in this throne of my fathers, since thy gift today I have:
Thou hast given it altogether, nor aught from me wouldst save;
And thou knowest the tale of women, how oft it haps on a day
That of such gifts men repent them, and their lives are cast away."
He said: "I have cast it away as the tiller casteth the seed,
That the summer may better the spring-tide, and the autumn winter's need:
For what were the fruit of our lives if apart they needs must pass,
And men shall say hereafter: Woe worth the hope that was!"
She said: "That day shall dawn the best of all earthly days
When we sit, we twain, in the high-seat in the hall of the people's praise:
Or else, what fruit of our life-days, what fruit of our death shall be?
What fruit, save men's remembrance of the grief of thee and me?"
He said: "It is sharper to bear than the bitter sword in the breast,
O woe, to think of it now in the days of our gleaning of rest!"
Said Brynhild: "I bid thee remember the word that I have sworn,
How the sun shall turn to blackness, and the last day be outworn,
Ere I forget thee, Sigurd, and the kindness of thy face."
And they kissed and the day grew later and noon failed the golden place.
But Sigurd said: "O Brynhild, remember how I swore
That the sun should die in the heavens and day come back no more,
Ere I forget thy wisdom and thine heart of inmost love.
Lo now, shall I unsay it, though the Gods be great above,
Though my life should last for ever, though I die tomorrow morn,
Though I win the realm of the world, though I sink to the thrall-folk's scorn?"