Wulf and Eadwacer
By Unknown
Translated By Roy M. Liuzza
It's as if someone should give a gift to my people—
they will kill him if he comes to the troop.
It is otherwise for us.
Wulf is on an island, I on another.
Fast is that island, surrounded by fen.
The men on the island are murderous and cruel;
they will kill him if he comes to the troop.
It is otherwise for us.
I felt far-wandering hopes for my Wulf,
as I sat weeping in the rainy weather,
when the bold warrior's arms embraced me—
it was sweet to me, yet I also despised it.
Wulf, my Wulf! My wanting you
has made me sick—your seldom coming,
my mourning heart, not lack of meat.
Do you hear, Eadwacer? A wolf bears away
our wretched cub to the woods.
One can easily split what was never united,
the song of the two of us.
Copyright Credit: Roy Liuzza, "Wulf and Eadwacer (Translation)" from Old English Poetry: An Anthology. Copyright © 2014 by Roy Liuzza. Reprinted by permission of Broadview Press.