"The Fatal Sisters. An Ode"

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	T	E	T/E		"The Fatal Sisters. An Ode"
					(From the Norse-Tongue,) in the ORCADES of
					Thormodus Torfaeus; Hafniae, 1697, Folio:
					and also in Bartholinus.
					Vitt er orpit fyrir valfalli, &c.
					Advertisement.
					The Author once had thoughts (in concert with a Friend) of
					giving the History of English Poetry: In the Introduction
					to it he meant to have produced some specimens of the Style that
					reigned in ancient times among the neighbouring nations, or
					those who had subdued the greater part of this Island, and were
					our Progenitors: the following three Imitations made a part of
					them. He has long since drop'd his design, especially after he
					had heard, that it was already in the hands of a Person well
					qualified to do it justice, both by his taste, and his
					researches into antiquity.
					PREFACE.
					In the Eleventh Century Sigurd, Earl of the Orkney-Islands,
					went with a fleet of ships and a considerable body of troops
					into Ireland, to the assistance of Sictryg with the silken beard,
					who was then making war on his father-in-law Brian, King of
					Dublin: the Earl and all his forces were cut to pieces, and
					Sictryg was in danger of a total defeat; but the enemy had a
					greater loss by the death of Brian, their King, who fell in
					the action. On Christmas-day, (the day of the battle,) a Native
					of Caithness in Scotland saw at a distance a number of persons
					on horseback riding full speed towards a hill, and seeming to enter
					into it. Curiosity led him to follow them, till looking through an
					opening in the rocks he saw twelve gigantic figures resembling
					women: they were all employed about a loom; and as they wove,
					they sung the following dreadful Song; which when they had
					finished, they tore the web into twelve pieces, and (each taking
					her portion) galloped Six to the North and as many to the South.
		E		1	Now the storm begins to lower,
	T	E	T/E	2	(Haste, the loom of hell prepare,)
		E		3	Iron-sleet of arrowy shower
		E		4	Hurtles in the darkened air.
	T			5	Glittering lances are the loom,
				6	Where the dusky warp we strain,
				7	Weaving many a soldier's doom,
		E		8	Orkney's woe, and Randver's bane.
		E		9	See the grisly texture grow,
		E		10	('Tis of human entrails made,)
		E		11	And the weights that play below,
		E		12	Each a gasping warrior's head.
		E		13	Shafts for shuttles, dipped in gore,
				14	Shoot the trembling cords along.
	T	E	T/E	15	Sword, that once a monarch bore,
		E		16	Keep the tissue close and strong.
	T	E	T/E	17	Mista black, terrific maid,
	T	E	T/E	18	Sangrida and Hilda see,
		E		19	Join the wayward work to aid:
				20	'Tis the woof of victory.
		E		21	E're the ruddy sun be set,
				22	Pikes must shiver, javelins sing,
	T	E	T/E	23	Blade with clattering buckler meet,
		E		24	Hauberk crash and helmet ring.
		E		25	(Weave the crimson web of war)
				26	Let us go, and let us fly,
				27	Where our friends the conflict share,
	T	E	T/E	28	Where they triumph, where they die.
		E		29	As the paths of fate we tread,
		E		30	Wading through the ensanguined field:
	T	E	T/E	31	Gondula and Geira, spread
		E		32	O'er the youthful king your shield.
	T	E	T/E	33	We the reins to slaughter give,
				34	Ours to kill and ours to spare:
				35	Spite of danger he shall live.
				36	(Weave the crimson web of war.)
	T	E	T/E	37	They, whom once the desert-beach
	T	E	T/E	38	Pent within its bleak domain,
		E		39	Soon their ample sway shall stretch
		E		40	O'er the plenty of the plain.
		E		41	Low the dauntless earl is laid,
		E		42	Gored with many a gaping wound:
				43	Fate demands a nobler head;
	T	E	T/E	44	Soon a king shall bite the ground.
	T	E	T/E	45	Long his loss shall Eirin weep,
		E		46	Ne'er again his likeness see;
				47	Long her strains in sorrow steep,
		E		48	Strains of immortality!
				49	Horror covers all the heath,
	T	E	T/E	50	Clouds of carnage blot the sun.
				51	Sisters, weave the web of death;
				52	Sisters, cease, the work is done.
				53	Hail the task, and hail the hands!
				54	Songs of joy and triumph sing!
				55	Joy to the victorious bands;
		E		56	Triumph to the younger king.
		E		57	Mortal, thou that hear'st the tale,
		E		58	Learn the tenor of our song.
	T	E	T/E	59	Scotland, through each winding vale
		E		60	Far and wide the notes prolong.
	T	E	T/E	61	Sisters, hence with spurs of speed:
	T			62	Each her thundering faulchion wield;
	T	E	T/E	63	Each bestride her sable steed.
	T			64	Hurry, hurry to the field.

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• [BrJ_1903] The Poetical Works of Thomas Gray: English and Latin. Edited with an introduction, life, notes and a bibliography by John Bradshaw. Reprinted edition. The Aldine edition of the British poets series. London: George Bell and sons, 1903 [1st edition 1891].
• [CrJ_1948] Gray: Poetry and Prose. With essays by Johnson, Goldsmith and others. With an Introduction and Notes by J. Crofts. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1948 [1st ed. 1926].
• [EpW_1959] Poems of Thomas Gray. Edited by W. C. Eppstein. London and Glasgow: Blackie & Son Ltd., 1959.
• [GoE_1884] The Works of Thomas Gray: In Prose and Verse. Ed. by Edmund Gosse, in four vols. London: MacMillan and Co., 1884, vol. i.
• [HeJ_1981] Thomas Gray: Selected Poems. Ed. by John Heath-Stubbs. Manchester: Carcanet New Press Ltd., 1981.
• [LoR_1969] The Poems of Thomas Gray, William Collins, Oliver Goldsmith. Edited by Roger Lonsdale. Longman Annotated English Poets Series. London and Harlow: Longmans, 1969.
• [P/W_1950] The Poems of Gray and Collins. Edited by Austin Lane Poole. Revised by Leonard Whibley. Third edition. Oxford editions of standard authors series. London: Oxford UP, 1937, reprinted 1950 [1st ed. 1919].
• [PhW_1894] Selections from the Poetry and Prose of Thomas Gray. Ed. with an introduction and notes by William Lyon Phelps. The Athenaeum press series. Boston: Ginn & company, 1894.
• [ReJ_1973] The Complete English Poems of Thomas Gray. Edited with an Introduction and Notes by James Reeves. The Poetry Bookshelf series. London: Heinemann; New York: Barnes & Noble, 1973.
• [S/H_1966] The Complete Poems of Thomas Gray: English, Latin and Greek. Edited by Herbert W. Starr and J. R. Hendrickson. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1966.
• [ToD_1922] Gray's English Poems, Original and Translated from the Norse and Welsh. Edited by Duncan C. Tovey. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1922 [1st ed. 1898].