And as to what thou sayest concerning the days gone past and our joys upon the tumbling sea, true it is that those days were good and lovely; but they are dead and gone like the lads who sat on the thwart beside us, and the maidens who took our hands in the hall to lead us to the chamber.

Other days have come in their stead, and other friends shall cherish us.

What then?
Shall we wound the living to pleasure the dead, who cannot heed it?
Shall we curse the Yuletide, and cast foul water on the Holy Hearth of the winter feast, because the summer once was fair and the days flit and the times change?
Now let us be glad! For life liveth." Therewith he turned about to his damsel and kissed her on the mouth.

But Hallblithe's face was grown sad and stern, and he spake slowly and heavily: "So is it, shipmate, that whereas thou sayest that the days flit, for thee they shall flit no more; and the day may come for thee when thou shalt be weary, and know it, and long for the lost which thou hast forgotten.

But hereof it availeth nought for me to speak any longer, for thine ears are deaf to these words, and thou wilt not hear them.