Sweden's Laureate: Selected Poems of Verner von Heidenstam/Starting on the Journey
STARTING ON THE JOURNEY.
Already I'm upon the bridge that leadsFrom Earth unto a land beyond my ken,And far to me is now what once was near.Beneath, as formerly, the race of menPraise, blame, and forge their darts for warlike deeds;But now I see that true and noble creedsEven 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 defileWith dust a world so pure, all white as snow.Beneath, men soon may carry to a graveA wretched shape of human clay, the whileMumbling a name—'twas mine once long ago.