Ever 'neath high Valhalla Hall the well-tuned horns begin, When the swords are out in the underworld, and the weary Gods come in. Ever through high Valhalla Gate the Patient Angel goes He opens the eyes that are blind with hate-he joins the hands of foes. Dust of the stars was under our feet, glitter of stars aboveWrecks of our wrath dropped reeling down as we fought and we spurned and we strove. Worlds upon worlds we tossed aside, and scattered them to and fro, The night that we stormed Valhalla, a million years ago! They are forgiven as they forgive all those dark wounds and deep, Their beds are made on the Lap of Time and they lie down and sleep. They are forgiven as they forgive all those old wounds that bleed. They shut their eyes from their worshippers; they sleep till the world has need. She with the star I had marked for my own-I with my set desire Lost in the loom of the Night of Nights-lighted by worlds afire Met in a war against the Gods where the headlong meteors glow, Hewing our way to Valhalla, a million years ago! They will come back—come back again, as long as the red Earth rolls. He never wasted a leaf or a tree. Do you think He would squander souls? THE KINGDOM Now we are come to our Kingdom, And the State is thus and thus; Our legions wait at the Palace gateLittle it profits us. Now we are come to our Kingdom! Now we are come to our Kingdom, And the Crown is ours to take With a naked sword at the Council board, Now we are come to our Kingdom, With shame and fear for our daily cheer, And heaviness at night. Now we are come to our Kingdom! Now we are come to our Kingdom, But my love's eyelids fall. All that I wrought for, all that I fought for, Delight her nothing at all. My crown is of withered leaves, For she sits in the dust and grieves. Now we are come to our Kingdom! TARRANT MOSS I CLOSED and drew for my love's sake And I slew the Reiver of Tarrant Moss They have gone down, they have gone down, They are standing all arow Twenty knights in the peat-water, That never struck a blow! Their armour shall not dull nor rust, Their flesh shall not decay, For Tarrant Moss holds them in trust, Their soul went from them in their youth, Whenas I leaned on my love's truth And not on my sword alone! Whenas I leaned on lad's belief And not on my naked blade And I slew a thief, and an honest thief, They have laid the Reiver low in his place, But the twenty knights in the peat-water And ever they give me gold and praise For I struck the blow for my false love's sake I SIR RICHARD'S SONG (A. D. 1066) FOLLOWED my Duke ere I was a lover, But now this game is the other way over- I had my horse, my shield and banner, As for my Father in his tower, As for my Mother in her bower, As for my Brother in Rouen City, As for my little Sister waiting In the pleasant orchards of Normandie, Tell her youth is the time for matingTell her England hath taken me! As for my comrades in camp and highway, Kings and Princes and Barons famèd, Howso great man's strength be reckoned, OF A TREE SONG (A. D. 1200) F ALL the trees that grow so fair, Greater are none beneath the Sun, Than Oak, and Ash, and Thorn. Sing Oak, and Ash, and Thorn, good sirs, (All of a Midsummer morn!) Surely we sing no little thing, In Oak, and Ash, and Thorn! Oak of the Clay lived many a day, Or ever Æneas began. Ash of the Loam was a lady at home, When Brut was an outlaw man. Thorn of the Down saw New Troy Town (From which was London born); Witness hereby the ancientry Of Oak, and Ash, and Thorn! |