The Wife's Lament
From Wikisource
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| The Wife's Lament is a short Old English poem of 53 lines found in the Exeter Book and generally treated as an elegy in the manner of the Old English frauenlied, or woman's song. The poem has been relatively well-preserved and requires few if any emendations in order to be properly read and understood. Thematically, the poem is primarily concerned with the evocation of the grief of the female speaker and with the representation of her state of despair. The tribulations she suffers leading to her state of lamentation, however, are cryptically described and have been subject to a wide array of interpretations. — Excerpted from The Wife's Lament on Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. |
Ic þis giedd wrece bī mē ful gēomorre,
mīnre sylfre sīð. Ic þæt secgan mæg,
hwæt ic yrmþa gebād, siþþan ic ūp āwēox,[1]
nīwes oþþe ealdes, nō mā þonne nū.
5Ā ic wite wonn mīnra wræcsīþa.
Ǣrest mīn hlāford gewāt heonan of lēodum
ofer ȳþa gelāc; hæfde ic ūhtceare
hwǣr mīn lēodfruma londes wǣre.
Ðā ic mē fēran gewāt folgað sēcan,
10winelēas wræcca, for mīnre wēaþearfe.
Ongunnon þæt þæs monnes māgas hycgan
þurh dyrne geþōht, þæt hȳ tōdǣlden unc,
þæt wit gewīdost in woruldrīce
lifdon lāðlicost, ond mec longade.
15Hēt mec hlāford mīn herheard niman,
āhte ic lēofra lȳt on þissum londstede,
holdra frēonda. Forþon is mīn hyge gēomor.
Ðā ic mē ful gemæcne monnan funde,
heardsǣligne, hygegēomorne,
20mōd mīþendne, morþor hycgendne[2]
blīþe gebǣro. Ful oft wit bēotedan
þæt unc ne gedǣlde nemne dēað āna
ōwiht elles; eft is þæt onhworfen,
is nū swa hit nǣfre[3] wǣre
25frēondscipe uncer. Sceal[4] ic feor ge nēah
mīnes felalēofan fǣhðu drēogan.
Heht mec mon wunian on wuda bearwe,
under āctrēo in þām eorðscræfe.
Eald is þes eorðsele, eal ic eom oflongad,
30sindon dena dimme, dūna ūphēa,
bitre burgtūnas, brērum beweaxne,
wīc wynna lēas. Ful oft mec hēr wrāþe begeat
fromsīþ frēan. Frȳnd sind on eorþan,
lēofe lifgende, leger weardiað,
35þonne ic on uhtan āna gonge
under āctrēo geond þās eorðscrafu.
Þǣr ic sittan[5] mōt sumorlangne dæg,
þǣr ic wēpan mæg mīne wræcsīþas,
earfoþa fela; forþon ic ǣfre ne mæg
40þǣre mōdceare mīnre gerestan,
ne ealles þæs longaþes þe mec on þissum līfe begeat.
Ā scyle geong mon wesan gēomormōd,
heard heortan geþōht, swylce habban sceal
blīþe gebǣro, ēac þon brēostceare,
45sinsorgna gedreag. Sȳ æt him sylfum gelong
eal his worulde wyn, sȳ ful wīde fāh
feorres folclondes, þæt mīn frēond siteð
under stānhliþe storme behrīmed,
wine wērigmōd, wætre beflōwen
50on drēorsele, drēogeð se mīn wine
micle mōdceare; hē gemon tō oft
wynlicran wīc. Wā bið þām þe sceal
of langoþe lēofes ābīdan.
