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Deor in Modern English but I hope close to the original. A 'scop' was a poet. |
Weyland himself by worms / knew wretchedness, the one-minded earl / through hardship he went, he had for his wards / sorrow and longing, winter-cold wrack / woes he often found since then King Nidhad / had bound lithe sinew-bonds / on the selfless man. That was overcome, / so may this be. Beadohilde was not / of her brothers' death in soul so sore / as for her own self-thing, that she now / could understand that with child was she; / she could not earnestly think / how that should go. That was overcome, / so may this be. Of Mathilde / whose moans have become reckonless; / Geat's lady, whose sorrowful love / kept her from all sleep. That was overcome, / so may this be. Theodric owned for / thirty winters Meringsburgh; / that was to many known. That was overcome, / so may this be. We have heard of / Eormanric's wolfish thought; / he led widely his folk in Gothenric; / that was a grim king. Sat swords many / sorrow bound, woes in thought, / wished they often that these lands / were overcome. That was overcome, / so may this be. Sits he in sorrow and stress, / without mirth, his mind filled with murk; / he thinks that endless are / his woes. May then he think / that throughout this world the wise lord / wends his way onward to many earls / and shows them wealth, well-known wonder, / and worth of woes. That of myself / I will say this, that I was for a while / the Heodenings' scop; to my daring laird was I dear; / my name was Deor. I had for many winters / followed faithfully the true-hearted lord, / until Heorrenda now, a skilled song-crafter, / my lands has taken that the earl-shelterer / earlier gave unto me. That was overcome, / so may this be. |