Wrapt not in Eastern balms, Why dost thou haunt me?" Then, from those cavernous eyes From the heart's chamber. “I was a Viking old! My deeds, though manifold, Far in the Northern Land, Tamed the gerfalcon; Oft to his frozen lair Tracked I the grisly bear, While from my path the hare And in the forest's shade Our vows were plighted. Under its loosened vest "Bright in her father's hall When of old Hildebrand I asked his daughter's hand, 36 While the brown ale he quaffed So the loud laugh of scorn, She was a Prince's child, I but a Viking wild, And though she blushed and smiled, I was discarded! Should not the dove so white Why did they leave that night 14 "Scarce had I put to sea, Bearing the maid with me, Fairest of all was she Among the Norsemen ! When on the white sea-strand, Saw we old Hildebrand, With twenty horsemen. "Then launched they to the blast, Bent like a reed each mast, Yet we were gaining fast, When the wind failed us; And with a sudden flaw Came round the gusty Skaw, So that our foe we saw "And as to catch the gale Round veered the flapping sail, Mid-ships with iron keel Struck we her ribs of steel; ” As with his wings aslant, Through the wild hurricane, "Three weeks we westward bore, And when the storm was o'er, Cloudlike we saw the shore Stretching to lee-ward; Stands looking sea-ward. "There lived we many years; Time dried the maiden's tears; She had forgot her fears, She was a mother; Death closed her mild blue eyes, Ne'er shall the sun arise "Still grew my bosom then, Still as a stagnant fen! Hateful to me were men, The sun-light hateful! In the vast forest here, O, death was grateful! "Thus, seamed with many scars, Bursting these prison bars, Up to its native stars My soul ascended ! There from the flowing bow! |