Page:The collected works of Henrik Ibsen (Heinemann Volume 3).djvu/75

The Man.

               Of the scraps we got
Together, a few crumbs we've brought——

Brand.

Though you give all, and life retain,
I tell you that your gift is vain.

The Man.

Had he to-day, who now lies dead,
By mortal peril been bested,
And I had heard his foundering cry,
I also would have dared to die.

Brand.

But peril of the <g>Soul</g> you slight?

The Man.

Well, we're but drudgers day by day.

Brand.

Then from the downward-streaming light
Turn your eyes utterly away;
And cease to cast the left askance
At heaven, while with the right you glance
Down at the mould where, crouching low,
Self-harness'd in the yoke you go.

The Man.

I thought you'd say we ought to shake us
Free of the yoke we toil in?

Brand.

                             Yea,
If you are able.