Sweden's Laureate: Selected Poems of Verner von Heidenstam/Starting on the Journey
STARTING ON THE JOURNEY.
Already I'm upon the bridge that leads
From Earth unto a land beyond my ken,
And far to me is now what once was near.
Beneath, as formerly, the race of men
Praise, blame, and forge their darts for warlike deeds;
But now I see that true and noble creeds
Even on my foemen's shields are blazoned clear.
No more does life bewilder with its riot,
I am as lonely as a man may be;
Still is the air, austere and winter-quiet;
Self is forgot, and I go forward free.
I loose my shoes and cast aside my stave.
Softly I go, for I would not defile
With dust a world so pure, all white as snow.
Beneath, men soon may carry to a grave
A wretched shape of human clay, the while
Mumbling a name—'twas mine once long ago.
From Earth unto a land beyond my ken,
And far to me is now what once was near.
Beneath, as formerly, the race of men
Praise, blame, and forge their darts for warlike deeds;
But now I see that true and noble creeds
Even on my foemen's shields are blazoned clear.
No more does life bewilder with its riot,
I am as lonely as a man may be;
Still is the air, austere and winter-quiet;
Self is forgot, and I go forward free.
I loose my shoes and cast aside my stave.
Softly I go, for I would not defile
With dust a world so pure, all white as snow.
Beneath, men soon may carry to a grave
A wretched shape of human clay, the while
Mumbling a name—'twas mine once long ago.