Hoder, the blind old God, Whose feet are shod with silence, They laid him in his ship, As on a funeral pyre. Odin placed A ring upon his finger, And whispered in his ear. They launched the burning ship! Over the misty sea, Till like the sun it seemed, So perish the old Gods! Over its meadows green Walk the young bards and sing. Build it again, O ye bards, Fairer than before! Ye fathers of the new race, Feed upon morning dew, Sing the new Song of Love! The law of force is dead! Shall rule the earth no more, Challenge the meek Christ. Sing no more, O ye bards of the North, Of Vikings and of Jarls! Of the days of Eld Preserve the freedom only, Not the deeds of blood! THE SINGERS. GOD sent his Singers upon earth The first, a youth, with soul of fire, Through groves he wandered, and by streams, The second, with a bearded face, A gray, old man, the third and last, But the great Master said, "I see I gave a various gift to each, To charm, to strengthen, and to teach. "These are the three great chords of might, Will hear no discord in the three, SUSPIRIA. TAKE them, O Death! and bear away Take them, O great Eternity! HYMN FOR MY BROTHER'S ORDINATION. CHRIST to the young man said: "Yet one thing more: If thou wouldst perfect be, Sell all thou hast and give it to the poor, And come and follow me!" Within this temple Christ again, unseen, Those sacred words hath said, And his invisible hands to-day have been Laid on a young man's head, And evermore beside him on his way The unseen Christ shall move, That he may lean upon his arm and say, "Dost thou, dear Lord, approve?" Beside him at the marriage feast shall be, To make the scene more fair; Beside him in the dark Gethsemane Of pain and midnight prayer. O holy trust! O endless sense of rest: Like the beloved John To lay his head upon the Saviour's breast, And thus to journey on! |