THE KAISER AS POET.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1012, 30 December 1910, Page 9

THE KAISER AS POET.

The "Song to Aegir," which was rlayed at Brussels during a municipal reception, is a poem by the Kaiser, says an English writer. It contains twenty-lour lines, and lias koen published with a. commentary cf 13 pages, tho proceeds of tho sale being dedicated to tne erecting' of an outlooklower on the -battlefield .of Gravelotte. Tho poem,, though not high art, is, with tho exception of one impuro rhyme, metrically' beyond cav,il, and tho subjectmatter shows a tolerable acquaintance with Scandinavian mythology, it runs a 9 follows :—",O Aegir, Lord ol\ billows, To whom sea-spirits bow, And, in the glow of dawning, Embattled heroes tpo, In' feud ferocious fare we Unto the further strand: Through cliffs (sic!) and tempests lead us Into, the foeman's • land! Wh9n water-sprites do threaten, And shields are hacked away, Still let thine eye defend ns, However wild the fray. As Fridthof on Ellida Sailed calmly o'er thy sea, Protect upon this vessel Thy sons who swarm to thee! When, in the raging battlei Harness, on harness shocks, When the shield-maid the fallen In her embraces locks,. Then to thy surging ocean Our sword and shield shall ring, While we, liko wines of. tempests, Unto tliino honour sing!'