·- He spake; and the fleet Hermod thus replied:'Brother, what seats are these, what happier day? Tell me, that I may ponder it when gone.' And the ray-crowned Balder answer'd him:— Thither, when o'er this present earth and Heavens Familiar, halls where we have supp'd of old; Our eyes with gazing, and rebuild with tears. And we shall tread once more the well-known plain Of Ida, and among the grass shall find The golden dice with which we play'd of yore; And that will bring to mind the former life O Hermod, pray that thou may'st join us then! I rest the thrall of Hela, and endure Death, and the gloom which round me even now He spoke, and waved farewell, and gave his hand Though they to death were bound, and he to Heaven, Then; but a power he could not break withheld. And as a stork which idle boys have trapp'd, And tied him in a yard, at autumn sees Flocks of his kind pass flying o'er his head To warmer lands, and coasts that keep the sun;- THE STRAYED REVELLER. THE PORTICO OF CIRCE'S PALACE. EVENING. A Youth. Circe. The Youth. FASTER, faster, O Circe, Goddess, Let the wild, thronging train, The bright procession Of eddying forms, Sweep through my soul! Thou standest, smiling Down on me! thy right arm Lean'd up against the column there, Props thy soft cheek; Thy left holds, hanging loosely, The deep cup, ivy-cinctured, I held but now. Is it then evening So soon? I see, the night dews, Cluster'd in thick beads, dim On thy white shoulder; The cool night-wind, too, Blows through the portico, Circe. Whence art thou, sleeper? The Youth. When the white dawn first Up at the valley-head, I sprang up, I threw round me My dappled fawn-skin; Passing out, from the wet turf, Where they lay, by the hut door, I snatch'd up my vine-crown, my fir-staff, |