from The Exeter Book: Gnomic Verses
By Anonymous
(lines 71-99)
Frost shall freeze
fire eat wood
earth shall breed
ice shall bridge
water a shield wear.
One shall break
frost’s fetters
free the grain
from wonder-lock
—One who all can.
Winter shall wane
fair weather come again
the sun-warmed summer!
The sound unstill
the deep dead wave
is darkest longest.
Holly shall to the pyre
hoard be scattered
when the body’s numb.
Name is best.
A king shall win
a queen with goods
beakers, bracelets.
Both must first
be kind with gifts.
Courage must wax
war-mood in the man,
the woman grow up
beloved among her people,
be light of mood
hold close a rune-word
be roomy-hearted
at hoard-share and horse-giving.
When the hall drinks
she shall always and everywhere
before any company
greet first
the father of aethelings
with the first draught
—deft to his hand she
holds the horn—
and when they are at home together
know the right way
to run their household.
The ship must be nailed
the shield framed
from the light linden.
But how loving the welcome
of the Frisian wife
when floats offshore
the keel come home again!
She calls him within walls,
her own husband
—hull’s at anchor!—
washes salt-stains
from his stiff shirt
brings out clothes
clean and fresh
for her lord on land again.
Love’s need is met.
Copyright Credit: Gnomic verses from the Exeter Book, 7th-10th century, translated by Michael Alexander, from The Earliest English Poems. Copyright © 1966, 1977, 1991 by Michael Alexander. Used by permission of Penguin Books (UK), Ltd.
Source: The Earliest English Poems (Penguin Books, 1991)