The Song of the Slumberers
Poemata XXVII
"It hides deep, and though in sleep It seems so dead from all the world The nifnwarf takes just he who wakes Enow the beast in slumber curled;" "What it seems, as though he dreams Who fashions these from darkling earth With eye and ear and tooth like spear A giant loath of any worth;" "Legs and arms, and breath that harms A sight which no man lives who sees So fierce in anger, unworldly danger The nifnwarf seeks; it never flees." "Cursed to sleep, its time to keep Until the time and times are done With eyes of red will wake the dead And shine when there is no more sun;" "Cut it down and you may drown In limbs which grow out from the wound; Cut out its heart, but like a part Of clockwork, steel and stone is bound;" "So said one, whose deed was done And did a nifnwarf truly slay The heart he kept from that which slept And it beats this very day."