The Ruin [Wrætlic is þæs wealstan]
Anonymous
| Imperial Walls di Peter Hammill | |
| THE RUIN ¶ 1 Wondrous is this wall-stone, broken by fate, ¶ 2 the city burst apart, the giant-work crumbled. ¶ 3 Roofs are ruined, towers ruined, ¶ 4 rafters ripped away, hoarfrost on lime, ¶ 5 gaps in the storm-shelter, sheared and cut away ¶ 6 under-eaten by age. The earth grip holds ¶ 7 the mighty makers, decayed and lost to time ¶ 8 held in the hard-gripping ground while a hundred generations ¶ 9 of people watched, then died. Often this wall waited, ¶ 10 lichen gray and red-stained, through one kingdom after another, ¶ 11 stood against storms until steep, deep, it failed. ¶ 12 Yet even now the [ ] heaped over with [ ] ¶ 13 remains [ ] ¶ 14 savagely scraped [ ] ¶ 15 grimly ground up [ ] ¶ 16 [ ] shone [ ] ¶ 17 [ ] skillful work ancient building [ ] ¶ 18 [ ]g [ ] earth-rind bent ¶ 19 the mind [ ] swift motion ¶ 20 the mind-renowned one bound up in firm rings ¶ 21 house walls wonderfully with wire strips. ¶ 22 bright were the fort-buildings, bathhouses, ¶ 23 a wealth of high gables, much martial sound, ¶ 24 many meadhalls full with joy-days ¶ 25 until the force of fate turned that ¶ 26 bodies died all over the place in battle, days of pestilence came ¶ 27 death swept away all of the sword-brave men ¶ 28 This came to be their strife-place, their waste-places, ¶ 29 their battle places became blasted waste, ¶ 30 the fort-place rotted apart. The repairers died, ¶ 31 armies to the earth. For that reason these houses are failing, ¶ 32 the red expanses, the open places and shelters, ¶ 33 and the woodwork of the roof. The place of ruin fell, ¶ 34 broken to mounds where once many men, ¶ 35 mood-glad and gold-bright, clothed in gleaming, ¶ 36 gold-adorned and wine-flushed, war-gear shining, ¶ 37 and looked on treasure, silver, curious gems ¶ 38 on property, on lands, on jewel stones, ¶ 39 on this bright city, this broad realm. ¶ 40 The stone halls stood, the hot stream gushed ¶ 41 in a wide billow, and a wall held all of it ¶ 42 in its bright breast, and that bath was ¶ 43 hot in its heart. That was fitting. ¶ 44 Then they let flow [ ] ¶ 45 hot streams over old stone ¶ 46 [ ] ¶ 47 [ ] until the ringed pool hotly [ ] ¶ 48 [ ] where they were. ¶ 49 When is [ ] ¶ 50 [ ] That is a kingly thing ¶ 51 house [ ] ¶ 52 [ ] city [ ] | IMPERIAL WALLS Strange to behold is the stone of this wall broken by fate. The strongholds are bursten, the work of giants decaying; the roofs are fallen, the towers are tottering, mouldering palaces roofless, weather-marked masonry shattering. Shelters time-scarred, tempest-marred, undermined of old. Earth's grasp holdeth its mighty builders tumbled, crumbled, in gravel's harsh grip till a hundred generations of men pass away. Till a hundred generations of men pass away, Till a hundred generations of men pass away. |
