Part 19 (1/2)

There may the autumn acres tell Of how men met, and what befell.

The Black Burg under the Eagle's nest Shall tell the tale as it liketh best.

And sooth it is that the River-land Lacks many an autumn-gathering hand.

And there are troth-plight maids unwed Shall deem awhile that love is dead;

And babes there are to men shall grow Nor ever the face of their fathers know.

And yet in the Land by the River-side Doth never a thrall or an earl's man bide;

For Hugh the Earl of might and mirth Hath left the merry days of Earth;

And we live on in the land we love, And grudge no hallow Heaven above.

THE VOICE OF TOIL

I heard men saying, Leave hope and praying, All days shall be as all have been; To-day and to-morrow bring fear and sorrow, The never-ending toil between.

When Earth was younger mid toil and hunger, In hope we strove, and our hands were strong; Then great men led us, with words they fed us, And bade us right the earthly wrong.

Go read in story their deeds and glory, Their names amidst the nameless dead; Turn then from lying to us slow-dying In that good world to which they led;

Where fast and faster our iron master, The thing we made, for ever drives, Bids us grind treasure and fas.h.i.+on pleasure For other hopes and other lives.

Where home is a hovel and dull we grovel, Forgetting that the world is fair; Where no babe we cherish, lest its very soul perish; Where mirth is crime, and love a snare.

Who now shall lead us, what G.o.d shall heed us As we lie in the h.e.l.l our hands have won?

For us are no rulers but fools and befoolers, The great are fallen, the wise men gone.

I heard men saying, Leave tears and praying, The sharp knife heedeth not the sheep; Are we not stronger than the rich and the wronger, When day breaks over dreams and sleep?

Come, shoulder to shoulder ere the world grows older!

Help lies in nought but thee and me; Hope is before us, the long years that bore us Bore leaders more than men may be.

Let dead hearts tarry and trade and marry, And trembling nurse their dreams of mirth, While we the living our lives are giving To bring the bright new world to birth.

Come, shoulder to shoulder ere earth grows older!

The Cause spreads over land and sea; Now the world shaketh, and fear awaketh, And joy at last for thee and me.

GUNNAR'S HOWE ABOVE THE HOUSE AT LITHEND

Ye who have come o'er the sea to behold this grey minster of lands, Whose floor is the tomb of time past, and whose walls by the toil of dead hands Show pictures amidst of the ruin of deeds that have overpast death, Stay by this tomb in a tomb to ask of who lieth beneath.