Come like a giant from a haven broad; This ship to all the rest did I prefer: When will she turn, and whither? She will brook No tarrying; where she comes the wind must stir : On went she, and due north her journey took. III. Why stand we gazing on the sparkling brine Because the unstain'd, the clear, the crystalline, A sleeping infant's brow, or wakeful eye WORDSWORTH. THE SEA-KING'S BURIAL. 'My strength is failing fast,' Where my ship at anchor rides Steadily; If I cannot end my life On the sea.' They have raised King Balder up, They have sheath'd his limbs in mail And the purple o'er him spread; And amid the greeting rude Of a gathering multitude Borne him slowly to the shore- From his dim eye flashing forth- As he looked upon his ship Riding free, And on his forehead pale Felt the cold refreshing gale, And heard the welcome sound Of the sea. They have borne him to the ship Tenderly, Saying, King of mighty men, We shall meet thee yet again, In Valhalla, with the monarchs Of the sea.' Underneath him in the hold They had placed the lighted brand; And the fire was burning slow As the vessel from the land, - Like a stag-hound from the slips, Scudding free, As on many a battle morn In her time she had been borne, To struggle and to conquer On the sea. And the King with sudden strength And his robes around his neck: For the gale was o'er him blowing Fresh and free; And ere yet an hour had past He was driven before the blast, And a storm was on his path, On the sea. And still upon the deck While the storm about him rent, King Balder paced about Till his failing strength was spent. Then he stopp'd a while to rest Cross'd his hands upon his breast, And look'd upwards to the sky, With a dim but dauntless eye; And heard the tall mast creak, And the fitful tempest speak Shrill and fierce, to the billows Rushing free, And within himself he said, 'I am coming, oh, ye dead! To join you in Valhalla, O'er the sea.' And Balder spake no more, As he heard the tempest wail. Black as wreaths of autumn clouds, When the lightning from their bosoms Flashes free; And the dancing waves upsprung, And a lurid radiance flung On the sky, and on the waters Of the sea. |