52
INFINITE BECKONING.
The truth just discovered, the star new-revealed,
Are but fore-gleams of mysteries deeper concealed;
One Palimpsest deciphered, one Rune rendered clear,
And new vistas of shade mock the eye of the seer.
Are but fore-gleams of mysteries deeper concealed;
One Palimpsest deciphered, one Rune rendered clear,
And new vistas of shade mock the eye of the seer.
II.
The Rune is a footprint, but whose were the feet
That stamped their strong impress and vanished so fleet?
And would they rest sweeter if haply they knew
That back on our pathway this shadow they threw?
And that we, in our groping, between hope and fear,
Had learned from the shadow that they were once here?
O Skald of the Norsemen, not lightly ye trod!
Your song was of Odin, but Odin sang God;
And waiving our "plans of salvation," we know
That you, in your wildness, were reverent too.
Some roll from the drum-beat that marshals the spheres
Sent its echo from Nature to ravish your ears;
The stars' bright reveille rang down from the blue,
In that morn of the earth, an awakening to you;
The grey mountains o'er-awed through the on-sweeping air,
And the sea's surging rhythm engulfed thee in prayer.
That stamped their strong impress and vanished so fleet?
And would they rest sweeter if haply they knew
That back on our pathway this shadow they threw?
And that we, in our groping, between hope and fear,
Had learned from the shadow that they were once here?
O Skald of the Norsemen, not lightly ye trod!
Your song was of Odin, but Odin sang God;
And waiving our "plans of salvation," we know
That you, in your wildness, were reverent too.
Some roll from the drum-beat that marshals the spheres
Sent its echo from Nature to ravish your ears;
The stars' bright reveille rang down from the blue,
In that morn of the earth, an awakening to you;
The grey mountains o'er-awed through the on-sweeping air,
And the sea's surging rhythm engulfed thee in prayer.
