Page:Kalevala (Kirby 1907) v1.djvu/73

Such in former times my portion.
But in days that now are passing,
In the evil days upon me,
Now my strength with age is failing,
All my understanding weakens
And my insight has departed,
All my judgment is perverted.
“She for whom long years I waited,180
Whom for half my life I longed for,
Vellamo’s fair water-maiden,
Youngest daughter of the surges,
Who should be my friend for ever,
And my wife throughout my lifetime,
Came and seized the bait I offered,
In my boat sprang unresisting,
But I knew not how to hold her,
To my home I could not take her,
But she plunged amid the waters,190
Diving to the depths profoundest.”
Then he wandered on a little,
And he walked, in sadness sighing,
To his home direct returning,
And he spoke the words which follow:
“Once indeed the birds were singing,
And my joyous cuckoo hailed me,
Both at morning and at evening,
Likewise, too, in midday hours.
What has stilled their lively music,200
And has hushed their charming voices?
Care has stilled their lively music,
Sorrow checked their cheerful voices,
Therefore do they sing no longer,
Neither at the sun’s declining,
To rejoice me in the evening,
Nor to cheer me in the morning.
“Now no more can I consider
How to shape my course of action,
How upon the earth to sojourn,210
How throughout the world to travel.
Would my mother now were living,