Classic and Contemporary Poetry
HIALMAR'S HEART, by CHARLES MARIE RENE LECONTE DE LISLE Poem Explanation Poet's Biography First Line: A clear night, icy wind, and blood-streams staining Last Line: "my seat where the high gods are in the sun." Subject(s): Death; Love - Loss Of; Ravens; War; Dead, The | ||||||||
A CLEAR night, icy wind, and blood-streams staining The snow where tombless lie a thousand dead, With sword still gript and eyes aghast. Complaining The ravens wheel above them still unfed. The light pours wanly from the moon's chill'd embers. Forth from the bloody heap Hialmar lifts On his snapt sword himself whose corse dismembers, The blood of battle raining from its rifts. "Ho there! Lives there one lad in whom still speech is Of all the lusty throng that dawn heard sing Full-throated as the thrush when he beseeches Behind the thick-set bushes in the spring? "All, all are dumb. My helm is slit, mine armour Is riddled thro' and cloven in the fray, Mine eyes weep blood. I hear a swollen clamour Like foiled sea-breakers or loud wolves that bay. "Come hither, old man-eater round me gliding, Rive thro' my bosom with thy beak of steel The morn shall find us stark and still abiding Bear thou my warm heart to the girl that's leal. "To far Upsala where the Jarls together, With song and golden flagons hold carouse Bear thou my heart, old rover of the heather, To Ylmer's daughter who hath heard its vows. "There shalt thou find her standing pale, uprightly Aloft the tower where the daws wheel by, And in her ears two silver rings hung lightly, And her eyes brighter than a clear-starred sky. "Tell her the love I bear her, dusky raven; Lay down thy trophy whole and red of hue; She'll know it well, the unblanching, the uncraven, And Ylmer's daughter she shall smile on you. "I die. From twenty wounds ebbs out my spirit. Come wolves and drink my blood! My life is done. Young, brave, unshaméd, I shall soon inherit My seat where the high Gods are in the sun." | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A FRIEND KILLED IN THE WAR by ANTHONY HECHT FOR JAMES MERRILL: AN ADIEU by ANTHONY HECHT TARANTULA: OR THE DANCE OF DEATH by ANTHONY HECHT CHAMPS D?ÇÖHONNEUR by ERNEST HEMINGWAY NOTE TO REALITY by TONY HOAGLAND A FESTIVAL by CHARLES MARIE RENE LECONTE DE LISLE AFTER A THOUSAND YEARS by CHARLES MARIE RENE LECONTE DE LISLE |
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