SELECTIONS IN ENGLISH POETRY
Fails but one thing to grieve, there Balder stops! 695
Let Gods, men, brutes, beweep him; plants and stones:
So shall she know your loss was dear indeed,
And bend her heart, and give you Balder back.'*
He spoke; and all the Gods to Odin look'd;
And straight the Father of the ages said :— 700
44Ye Gods, these terms may keep another day.
But now, put on your arms, and mount your steeds,
And in procession all come near, and weep
Balder; for that is what the dead desire.
When ye enough have wept, then build a pile 705
Of the heap'd wood, and burn his corpse with fire
Out of our sight; that we may turn from grief,
' And lead, as erst, our daily life in Heaven."
He spoke, and the Gods arm'd; and Odin donn'd
His dazzling corslet and his helm of gold, 710
And led the way on Sleipner; and the rest
Follow'd, in tears, their father and their king.
And thrice in arms around the dead they rode,
Weeping; the sands were wetted, and their arms,
With their thick-falling tears—so good a friend 7J5
They mourn'd that day, so bright, so loved a God.
And Odin came, and laid his kingly hands
On Balder's breast, and thus began the wail;—
"Farewell, O Balder, bright and loved, my son!
In that great day, the twilight of the Gods, 720
When Muspel's children shall beleaguer Heaven,
Then we shall miss thy counsel and thy arm."
Thou earnest near the next, O warrior Thor!
Shouldering thy hammer, in thy chariot drawn,
Swaying the long-hair'd goats with silver'd rein; 725
And over Balder's corpse these words didst say:—
44Brother, thou dwellest in the darksome land,
Artd talkest with the feeble tribes of ghosts,
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