The roar of the sea, ice-cold waves, and the song of the swan; For pastime the gannets' cry served me; the kittiwakes'1

chatter

2

For laughter of men; and for mead-drink the call of the sea mews.1

When storms on the rocky cliffs beat, then the terns, icyfeathered,

Made answer; full oft the sea-eagle forebodingly screamed,
The eagle with pinions wave-wet. There none of my kinsmen
Might gladden my desolate soul; of this little he knows
Who possesses the pleasures of life, who has felt in the city
Some hardship, some trifling adversity, proud and wine-
flushed.

How weary I oft had to tarry upon the sea-way!

The shadows of night became darker, it snowed from the north;

The world was enchained by the frost; hail fell upon earth; 'Twas the coldest of grain. Yet the thoughts of my heart

now are throbbing

To test the high streams, the salt waves in tumultuous play. Desire in my heart ever urges my spirit to wander

To seek out the home of the stranger in lands afar off.

There is no one that dwells upon earth, so exalted in mind, So large in his bounty, nor yet of such vigorous youth, Nor so daring in deeds, nor to whom his liege lord is so kind, But that he has always a longing, a sea-faring passion For what the Lord God shall bestow, be it honor or death. No heart for the harp has he, nor for acceptance of treasure, No pleasure has he in a wife, no delight in the world, Nor in aught save the roll of the billows; but always a longing,

A yearning uneasiness, hastens him on to the sea.

The woodlands are captured by blossoms, the hamlets grow fair,

1 Sea birds. The last two are gulls.

2 a fermented drink made from honey.

Broad meadows are beautiful, earth again bursts into life, And all stir the heart of the wanderer eager to journey,

So he meditates going afar on the pathway of tides.

The cuckoo, moreover, gives warning with sorrowful note, 5 Summer's harbinger1 sings, and forebodes to the heart bitter

sorrow.

The nobleman comprehends not, the luxurious man,

What some must endure, who travel the farthest in exile.

Now my spirit uneasily turns in the heart's narrow chamber,

Now wanders forth over the tide, o'er the home of the whale, 10 To the ends of the earth-and comes back to me. Eager and

greedy,

The lone wanderer screams, and resistlessly drives my soul onward,

Over the whale-path, over the tracts of the sea.

15

20

CÆDMONIAN CYCLE2

GENESIS

THE BEGINNING OF CREATION

But after as before was peace in Heaven,
Fair rule of love; dear unto all the Lord
Of lords, the King of hosts, to all His own,
And glories of the good who possessed joy
In heaven the almighty Father still increased.
Then peace was among dwellers in the sky,
Blaming and lawless malice were gone out,
And angels feared no more, since plotting foes
Who cast off heaven were bereft of light.

Their glory-seats behind them in God's realm,

1 forerunner.

2 Reprinted from Cook and Tinker, Translations from Old English Poetry, Ginn and Company, publishers.

Enlarged with gifts, stood happy, bright with bloom,
But ownerless since the cursed spirits went

Wretched to exile within bars of hell.

Then thought within His mind the Lord of hosts

How He again might fix within His rule

The great creation, thrones of heavenly light

High in the heavens for a better band,

Since the proud scathers1 had relinquished them.
The holy God, therefore, in His great might

5

Willed that there should be set beneath heaven's span
Earth, firmament,2 wide waves, created world,
Replacing foes cast headlong from their home.
Here yet was naught save darkness of the cave,
The broad abyss, whereon the steadfast King
Looked with His eyes and saw that space of gloom,
Saw the dark cloud lower in lasting night,
Was deep and dim, vain, useless, strange to God,
Black under heaven, wan, waste, till through His word
The King of glory had created life.

Here first the eternal Father, guard of all,
Of heaven and earth, raised up the firmament,
The almighty Lord set firm by His strong power
This roomy land; grass greened not yet the plain,
Ocean far spread hid the wan ways in gloom.
Then was the Spirit gloriously bright

Of heaven's Keeper borne over the deep
Swiftly. The Life-giver, the angel's Lord,
Over the ample ground bade come forth light.
Quickly the high King's bidding was obeyed,
Over the waste there shone light's holy ray.
Then parted He, Lord of triumphant might,
Shadow from shining, darkness from the light.
Light, by the word of God, was first named day.

1 those who did scathe or damage.

2 sky, heavens.

CYNEWULF CYCLE1

RIDDLE: THE STORM-SPIRIT IN THE SEA

The billows crash above me while I move,
No man knows whither, searching out the earth
In the vast caverns of the sea. Then stirs
The ocean, and impels the watery mass

5 To burst in foam. Fiercely the whale-mere2 rises
And shouts aloud and groans in mighty pain,
While sounds the tramp of floods along the shore.
Against precipitous cliffs incessantly

Rocks, sand, and heaving waves and weeds are hurled.
10 Yet toiling, robed with the strength of many waters,
I stir the soil of ocean's ample grounds,

Nor can I 'scape the whelming tide, till he
That is my guide allows. O man of wisdom,
Tell who may wrest me from the encircling grasp
15 Of water, when the streams again are stilled,
And waves that covered me beat harmony.

ANDREAS

A STORM AT SEA

Then was the ocean stirred

And deeply troubled, then the horn-fish played, Shot through the raging deep; the sea-gull gray, 20 Greedy for slaughter, flew in circling flight.

25

The candle of the sky grew straightway dark,

The winds waxed strong, the waves whirled, and the surge Leapt high, the ropes creaked, dripping with the waves;

The Terror of the waters rose, and stood

Above them with the might of multitudes.

1 Reprinted from Cook and Tinker, Translations from Old English Poetry, Ginn and Company, publishers. 2 sea.

The thanes were sore afraid; not one of them
Dared hope that he should ever reach the land,
Of those who by the sea had sought a ship
With Andrew, for as yet they did not know
Who pointed out the course for that sea-bark.

ELENE

THE BATTLE

Trumpets resounded before the troop.

The raven was watching and waiting joyfully,
The dewy-winged eagle saw from the distance,

5

And the wolf from his haunt in the desolate wood
Howled at the terror of death and hate.
Arrows rained on them as they rushed together;
Shields were broken, javelins shattered,

10

And the sword that swayed with the swinging arm
Came crashing down on the death-doomed foe.
They pressed on resolutely, pushing with effort,
Thrusting with swords and swinging battle-axes,
And ever their banner was borne forward

15

With shouts of triumph that were loud and shrill,
As the heathen fell joyless on that field.
Hastily the host of Huns fled away

20

When the Roman king, the fighter unconquerable,

The fierce leader, lifted the cross.

Wide was the ruin that was wrought on the heathen.

Some perished there in that place of death,

Some fled half alive to rocky fastnesses,

25

And won their way back to Danube's banks;

And some found death in the depths of the lake-stream:
But the proud victors chased the vanquished

From the day's dawning till night came down,

And with ash-darts and arrows (fierce battle-adders)
They destroyed the hateful host of the enemy.

30