O fool, to try to carry thyself upon thy own shoulders!
O beggar, to come to beg at thy own door!
Leave all thy burdens on his hands who can bear all,
and never look behind in regret.
Thy desire at once puts out the light from the lamp
it touches with its breath.
It is unholy —
take not thy gifts through its unclean hands.
Accept only what is offered by sacred love.

This is my prayer to thee, my lord — strike,
strike at the root of penury in my heart.
Give me the strength lightly to bear my joys and sorrows.
Give me the strength to make my love fruitful in service.
Give me the strength never to disown the poor or bend my knees before insolent might.
Give me the strength to raise my mind high above daily trifles.
And give me the strength to surrender my strength to thy will with love.

By all means they try to hold me secure who love me in this world.
But it is otherwise with thy love which is greater than theirs,
and thou keepest me free.
Lest I forget them they never venture to leave me alone.
But day passes by after day and thou art not seen.
If I call not thee in my prayers,
if I keep not thee in my heart,
thy love for me still waits

PART I.

T O THE Goddess Lada prayed
 Gisli, holding high his spear
Bound with buds of spring, and laughed
 All his heart to Lada's ear.

Damp his yellow beard with mead;
 Loud the harps clanged thro' the day;
With bruised breasts triumphant rode
 Gisli's galleys in the bay.

Bards sang in the banquet hall,
 Set in loud verse Gisli's fame;
On their lips the war gods laid
 Fire to chant their warrior's name.

To the Love Queen Gisli prayed,
 Buds upon his tall spear's tip,

When lordly Saturn in a sable robe
Sat full of frowns and mourning in the west,
The evening star scarce peeped from out her lodge,
And Phoebus newly galloped to his rest;
Even then
Did I
Within my boat sit in the silent streams,
All void of cares as he that lies and dreams.

As Phao so a ferryman I was;
The country lasses said I was too fair;
With easy toil I laboured at mine oar,
To pass from side to side who did repair;
And then
Did I
For pains take pence, and Charon-like transport

Parted, I came away and years have passed;
each year my love increases
because of you

On the sand of a sandhill I lie on my belly
and think this day
of the pain of first love as something remote

Sadly stars fall; two in love have lain side by side for the first time tonight

How lovely! getting drunk faster than I do, you've fallen asleep, your arm for a pillow

Ah, our kiss — may the sea remain as it is, the sun stay, and birds, dancing, die and cease now!