| |
| THE OLD GODS never die, | |
| They only watch and wait; | |
| They wait for a thousand years | |
| Beside the tall church gate. | |
| |
| Jove and Neptune and Mars, | 5 |
| Tyr and Odin and Thor, | |
| These watch with the ageless stars, | |
| They watch forevermore. | |
| |
| They call with the worn bronze trumpets, | |
| They call and all men hear. | 10 |
| Their voice is deeper than church bells, | |
| Deeper than chimes rung clear. | |
| It charms like the seraphim’s, | |
| And is older than all the hymns. | |
| |
| We hear the tramp of many feet | 15 |
| Upon the ancient pavements of the Gods. | |
| We see the people hasten from the street, | |
| Chanting their lauds. | |
| Their fashion’s garments off they cast | |
| And don the shag-skins of the past. | 20 |
| |
| The Old Gods rule the seas, | |
| And men are fed to the waves. | |
| The Old Gods burn the cities; | |
| They bind and ravish their slaves. | |
| |
| They ride on the storm and the lightning, | 25 |
| They revel in jungle and brake, | |
| They inhabit the seats of the thunders | |
| When the tempests in wrath awake. | |
| |
| A strange, strange smile | |
| Is the Old Gods’, while | 30 |
| They hope for the Cross to fall | |
| And they be lords of all. | |
| |
| Jove and Neptune and Mars, | |
| Tyr and Odin and Thor, | |
| These watch with the ageless stars, | 35 |
| They watch forevermore. | |
| |
| The Old Gods never die, | |
| They only watch and wait, | |
| They wait for a thousand years | |
| Beside the tall church gate. | 40 |
| |
