{"id":1021,"date":"2013-10-31T12:15:36","date_gmt":"2013-10-31T16:15:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kuny.ca\/blogs\/?p=1021"},"modified":"2013-10-31T12:15:36","modified_gmt":"2013-10-31T16:15:36","slug":"anonymous-the-wanderer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kuny.ca\/blogs\/2013\/1021\/poems\/anonymous-the-wanderer\/","title":{"rendered":"Anonymous: The Wanderer"},"content":{"rendered":"

Translation from the Anglo-Saxon by Michael Alexander<\/span><\/h3>\n

Who liveth alone longeth for mercy,<\/p>\n

Maker’s mercy. Though he must traverse<\/p>\n

Tracts of sea, sick at heart,<\/p>\n

– Trouble with oars ice-cold waters,<\/p>\n

The ways of exile – Weird is set fast.<\/p>\n

Thus spoke such a ‘grasshopper’, old griefs in his mind,<\/p>\n

Cold slaughters, the death of dear kinsmen:<\/p>\n

‘Alone am I driven each day before daybreak<\/p>\n

To give my cares utterance.<\/p>\n

None are there now among the living<\/p>\n

To whom I dare declare me throughly,<\/p>\n

Tell my heart’s thought. Too truly I know<\/p>\n

It is in a man no mean virtue<\/p>\n

That he keep close his heart’s chest,<\/p>\n

Hold his thought-hoard, think as he may.<\/p>\n

No weary mind may stand against Weird<\/p>\n

Nor may a wrecked will work new hope;<\/p>\n

Wherefore, most often, those eager for fame<\/p>\n

Bind the dark mood fast in their breasts.<\/p>\n

So must I also curb my mind,<\/p>\n

Cut off from country, from kind far distant,<\/p>\n

By cares overworn, bind it in fetters;<\/p>\n

This since, long ago, the ground’s shroud<\/p>\n

Enwrapped my gold-friend. Wretched I went thence,<\/p>\n

Winter-wearied, over the waves’ bound;<\/p>\n

Dreary I sought hall of a gold-giver,<\/p>\n

Where far or near I might find<\/p>\n

Him who in meadhall might take heed of me,<\/p>\n

Furnish comfort to a man friendless,<\/p>\n

Win me with cheer.<\/p>\n

He knows who makes trial<\/p>\n

How harsh and bitter is care for companion<\/p>\n

To him who hath few friends to shield him.<\/p>\n

Track ever taketh him, never the torqued gold,<\/p>\n

Not earthly glory, but cold heart’s cave.<\/p>\n

He minds him of hall-men, of treasure-giving,<\/p>\n

How in his youth his gold-friend<\/p>\n

Gave him to feast. Fallen all this joy.<\/p>\n

He knows this who is forced to forgo his lord’s,<\/p>\n

His friend’s counsels, to lack them for long:<\/p>\n

Oft sorrow and sleep, banded together,<\/p>\n

Come to bind the lone outcast;<\/p>\n

He thinks in his heart then that he his lord<\/p>\n

Claspeth and kisseth, and on knee layeth<\/p>\n

Hand and head, as he had at otherwhiles<\/p>\n

In days now gone, when he enjoyed the gift-stool.<\/p>\n

Awakeneth after this friendless man,<\/p>\n

Seeth before him fallow waves,<\/p>\n

Seabirds bathing, broading out feathers,<\/p>\n

Snow and hail swirl, hoar-frost falling.<\/p>\n

Then all the heavier his heart’s wounds,<\/p>\n

Sore for his loved lord. Sorrow freshens.<\/p>\n

Remembered kinsmen press through his mind;<\/p>\n

He singeth out gladly, scanneth eagerly<\/p>\n

Men from the same hearth. They swim away.<\/p>\n

Sailors’ ghosts bring not many<\/p>\n

Known songs there. Care grows fresh<\/p>\n

In him who shall send forth too often<\/p>\n

Over locked waves his weary spirit.<\/p>\n

Therefore I may not think, throughout this world,<\/p>\n

Why cloud cometh not on my mind<\/p>\n

When I think over all the life of earls,<\/p>\n

How at a stroke they have given up hall,<\/p>\n

Mood-proud thanes. So this middle earth<\/p>\n

Each of all days aeth and falleth. ‘<\/p>\n

Wherefore no man grows wise without he have<\/p>\n

His share of winters. A wise man holds out;<\/p>\n

He is not too hot-hearted, nor too hasty in speech,<\/p>\n

Nor too weak a warrior, not wanting in fore-thought,<\/p>\n

Nor too greedy of goods, nor too glad, nor too mild,<\/p>\n

Nor ever too eager to boast, ere he knows all.<\/p>\n

A man should forbear boastmaking<\/p>\n

Until his fierce mind fully knows<\/p>\n

Which way his spleen shall expend itself.<\/p>\n

A wise man may grasp how ghastly it shall be<\/p>\n

When all this world’s wealth standeth waste,<\/p>\n

Even as now, in many places, over the earth<\/p>\n

Walls stand, wind-beaten,<\/p>\n

Hung with hoar-frost; ruined habitations.<\/p>\n

The wine-halls crumble; their wielders lie<\/p>\n

Bereft of bliss, the band all fallen<\/p>\n

Proud by the wall. War took off some,<\/p>\n

Carried them on their course hence; one a bird bore<\/p>\n

Over the high sea; one the hoar wolf<\/p>\n

Dealt to death; one his drear-checked<\/p>\n

Earl stretched in an earthen trench.<\/p>\n

The Maker of men hath so marred this dwelling<\/p>\n

That human laughter is not heard about it<\/p>\n

And idle stand these old giant-works.<\/p>\n

A man who on these walls wisely looked<\/p>\n

Who sounded deeply this dark life<\/p>\n

Would think back to the blood spilt here,<\/p>\n

Weigh it in his wit. His word would be this:<\/p>\n

‘Where is that horse now? Where are those men? Where is the hoard-sharer?<\/p>\n

Where is the house of the feast? Where is the hall ‘s uproar?<\/p>\n

Alas, bright cup! Alas, burnished fighter!<\/p>\n

Alas, proud prince! How that time has passed,<\/p>\n

Dark under night’s helm, as though it never had been!<\/p>\n

There stands in the stead of staunch thanes<\/p>\n

A towering wall wrought with worm-shapes;<\/p>\n

The earls are off-taken by the ash-spear’s point,<\/p>\n

– That thirsty weapon. Their Weird is glorious.<\/p>\n

Storms break on the stone hillside,<\/p>\n

The ground bound by driving sleet,<\/p>\n

Winter’s wrath. Then wanness cometh,<\/p>\n

Night’s shade spreadeth, sendeth from north<\/p>\n

The rough hail to harry mankind.<\/p>\n

In the earth-realm all is crossed;<\/p>\n

Weird’s will changeth the world.<\/p>\n

Wealth is lent us, friends are lent us,<\/p>\n

Man is lent, kin is lent;<\/p>\n

All this earth’s frame shall stand empty. ‘<\/p>\n

So spoke the sage in his heart; he sat apart in thought.<\/p>\n

Good is he who keeps faith: nor should care too fast<\/p>\n

Be out of a man’s breast before he first know the cure:<\/p>\n

A warrior fights on bravely. Well is it for him who seeks forgiveness,<\/p>\n

The Heavenly Father’s solace, in whom all our fastness stands.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Translation from the Anglo-Saxon by Michael Alexander Who liveth alone longeth for mercy, Maker’s mercy. Though he must traverse Tracts of sea, sick at heart, – Trouble with oars ice-cold waters, The ways of exile – Weird is set fast. Thus spoke such a ‘grasshopper’, old griefs in his mind, Cold slaughters, the death of […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1021","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poems","category-4-id","post-seq-1","post-parity-odd","meta-position-corners","fix"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kuny.ca\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1021","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kuny.ca\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kuny.ca\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kuny.ca\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kuny.ca\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1021"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kuny.ca\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1021\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1022,"href":"https:\/\/kuny.ca\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1021\/revisions\/1022"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kuny.ca\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kuny.ca\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kuny.ca\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}