the King of the Heaven-Angels, and shine out holy
amid the greatest host of majesty, wonderfully
across the armies, the Sovereign God—
and the best of noble multitudes shall sparkle
clearly about him, a holy massed infantry,
a blessed battalion of angels. Within our inmost thoughts
we shall be shivering with fear before the terror of the Father.
It is no wonder therefore that the unclean family
of worldly-men, sorrowing with their cares,
will harshly dread when the family of the holy,
white and heaven-bright, a power of high angels,
are fearful for the terror of that face.
His bright creation trembling shall await the Lord’s doom. (1007-21a)
The most terrifying of days shall come into the world,
when the Glory-King in his majesty chastises
every nation, commanding the speech-bearing to arise
from their earth-graves, and every single person,
each one of mankind to muster at the moot.
Then all of the kindred of Adam shall quickly
take up their flesh, which has come to the end
of this earthly pause and habitation.
Then every one must rise up alive before the coming of Christ,
assume their limbs and bodily home, and become rejuvenated.
They shall have all upon them, which he once weighted upon his soul
in bygone days, all of the good and the folly,
over the course of the year—they shall hold both together,
body and soul. Everything must come into the light,
the face of their own deeds and the memory of their words
and the thoughts in their hearts before the King of Heaven. (1021b-38)
Then shall mankind be increased and renewed
through their Measurer. A mighty host of men
shall be risen to judgment, after the Life-Origin
looses the bonds of death. The breezes will scorch,
the heavenly stars will tumble to the earth, widely
will the glutton flame lay waste, and souls will depart
into an eternal home. Open shall the deeds of man
be made throughout middle-earth. Nor can the hoard
of humans, the thoughts of their hearts
be concealed one whit before the Wielding God.
Nor shall their deeds be kept secret from him,
but will be known there by the Lord
on that greatest of days—how every man
had before earned eternal life, and all will be present
which they, early or late, had wrought in the world.
Nor shall be there anything concealed of the minds of men,
but that famous day shall reveal all the hoards
of breast-locks, and the thoughts of the heart.
One must consider the needs of the soul before,
who intends to bring before God a clear face,
when the burning, hot and greedy for blood,
shall prove how preserved the soul has been
against its sins before the Deemer of Victory. (1039-60)
Then the voice of the trumpet and the bright symbol,
and the heated flame and the high multitude,
and the majesty of angels and the threat of terror,
and the severe day and the high cross
rightfully reared as a beacon to the realm,
shall summon the human hosts before him,
every soul which has, early or late,
taken up limbs into its body-home.
Then the greatest of armies, eternal and ever-young,
shall go into the presence of the Sovereign,
by desire or constraint. Called forth by name,
they will bear their breast-hoard before the Child of God,
the adornments of their soul. The Father will judge
how many sound souls his sons have brought
from their homeland where they have lived.
Then they shall be bold who bring a clear face
unto their Measurer. Their power and joy
shall be so blessed as a repayment to their souls
a glorious recompense for their deeds. It will be well
for those who are allowed to be pleasing to God
in that most grim of seasons. (1061-80)
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