Poems (Scudder)/Northern Sunset
NORTHERN SUNSET
Steel with a thousand gilded ripples lined The broad sea glitters like a Viking's shield And o'er its rim the red Berserker wrath Of the fierce sun is vividly revealed.
See how the fiery splendor upward streams Toward the zenith, slowly changing them To trembling filaments of purest gold Sweet Freya's tresses loved of gods and men.
But are they cloud or mountain, those soft peaks With tints of pearl and amber sheening fair? Too delicate they seem for shapes of earth, And yet too tender for the forms of air.
No swift Valkyrie winds are there to swoop And cry above the small grey sails that creep Into the harbor whose vast curve appears A giant's arm outflung in tranquil sleep.
A single gull floats wide-winged in the light, But not a wave uplifts its shining crest, For sky and air and ocean hold the peace The wondrous peace of mighty strength at rest.