The Dark Hereafter

Afflicted with sorrows,
Yet glorified in victory,
Much moved by their summons,
The night-helm glode away,
Quickly departed,
Light came thereafter,
The rushing noise of dawn!

The powerful collected heathens,
Savage, in heaps they thronged,
Their war-trappings sung,
They brandished their arms,
Angry in mood,
Under walls of shields!

They had in rune and had in rime craft,
Written, greedy for power,
The end of men, in life or death,
The cold-hearted fiercely shouted!

Oft their minds went to dim shadows,
Besieged by the devil's lore,
When they of savaged spirits,
Believed the lies!

Then they found those prudent of mind,
Their lives in space expired,
Dead bones ring echoes in broken lives,
Forthwith to divide, body and mind!