Page:Icelandic Poetry or the Edda of Sæmund (1797).pdf/268

ODIN.
Vegtam is the invader’s name,
Sprung from fires of warlike fame.
Mortal truths will he reveal;
Thou no work of fate conceal.
Tell me for what hero’s shade,
Yon seat with costliest care array’d.
Destin’d for whom, that radiant bed,
Rich with golden trappings spread.

VOLVA.
Lo! for Balder are decreed,
Purest bowls of honey’d mead:
Safe for him they lie conceal’d,
O’er canopy’d by yonder shield.
Drink of Gods shall Balder share;
Asi sons shall drink despair.
More, unwilling I relate—
Leave me, mortal! to my fate.