Page:The Forest Sanctuary.pdf/119

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LAYS OF MANY LANDS.
113


Then the torrents of the North,
And the forest pines were still,
While a hollow chant came forth
From the dark sepulchral hill.


"There shines no sun 'midst the hidden dead,
But where the day looks not the brave may tread:
There is heard no song, and no mead is pour'd,
But the warrior may come to the silent board
      In the shadow of the night.

"There is laid a sword in thy father's tomb,
And its edge is fraught with thy foeman's doom;
But soft be thy step through the silence deep,
And move not the urn in the house of sleep,
      For the viewless have fearful might!"

Then died the solemn lay,
As a trumpet's music dies,
By the night-wind borne away
Through the wild and stormy skies.

I

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