Poetry · Balder Dead 33 (2/4) (2/2)

He spake, and straight his lineaments began

To fade: and Nanna in her sleep stretch’d out

Her arms towards him with a cry; but he

Mournfully shook his head, and disappear’d.

And as the woodman sees a little smoke

Hang in the air, afield, and disappear⁠—

So Balder faded in the night away.

And Nanna on her bed sank back: but then

Frea, the Mother of the Gods, with stroke

Painless and swift, set free her airy soul,

Which took, on Balder’s track, the way below:

And instantly the sacred Morn appear’d.