" The swans are singing again, " said to one another the gods. And looking downwards, for my dreams had taken me to some fair and far Valhalla, I saw below me an iridescent bubble not greatly larger than a star shine beautifully but faintly, and up and up from it looking larger and larger came a flock of white, innumerable swans, singing and singing and singing, till it seemed as though even the gods were wild ships swimming in music.
" What is it? " I said to one that was humble among the gods.
" Only a world has ended, " he said to me, " and the swans are coming back to the gods returning the gift of song. "
" A whole world dead! " I said.
" Dead, " said he that was humble among the gods. " The worlds are not for ever; only song is immortal. "
" Look! look! " he said. " There will be a new one soon. "
And I looked and saw the larks, going down from the gods.