Poetry Archives

After Hearing the Wagner Story-book


The birds came to tell Siegfried a story,
A story of the woods out of a tree:
How the ring was fairy
And there were things it could do for him
Day and night:
How the river flowed green and wavy
Under the Rainbow Bridge,
And Brunnhilda slept in a wreath of fire.
Grane watched her, standing close beside,
Grane the big white horse,
Dear Grane of her heart.
She dreamed she was far from her father,
But Siegfried was coming,
Siegfried, through the big trees,
Up the hill,
Through the fire!

II

“Siegfried, hear us!
Give us back the ring!”
The lady with the shell,
The water-lady with the green hair,
Calling, cried “Siegfried!”
But he laughed to hear her,
Laughed in the sun
And went into the woods laughing:
He was happy in his heart,
And he had golden hair
Till the sun loved him.
“Siegfried!”
I will call him!
“Siegfried!”
But he will not hear me.
He could talk to birds and rivers,
And he is gone.