Paul Kingsnorth - The Wake

what fuccan flag i saes

the papa of rome he blest the bastards war on angland saes the gleoman he gaf him the flag of the crist to feoht under and when anglisc men seen this they was afeart and harald cyng though he was a great anglisc man though he was our greatest cyng since efer i was born and triewe well

he stops here and all is still in the ham lic i has nefer seen it

in a place called sanlac on the hyll of the graeg aeppel treow harald cyng drew up his men few and weary and this bastard with his flag and with the relicts of sancts around his foul throta and with men from all lands and none feohtan not for luf but all for gold he cum down on harald cyng and he cum down on him and he did not stop. and all daeg saes this gleoman all daeg our cyng held his line and wolde haf held it until deorcness and then sent the bastard to his scips again sent him baec with blud into the water but then sum thing cum

what thing i saes what thing

none cnawan he saes none seen it who still lifs but the bastards men cnihts as they is cnawan feohtan on hors they broc through the huscarls and toc the cyngs flag and they cut the cyng down cut him down on anglisc ground after efry thing he done for us and his blud is still there at sanlac and will not dry and the bodigs of his huscarls and of his brothors eorl leofwine and eorl gyrth all is gan all anglisc men is cut down and angland now with no sweords naht to stop the bastard from tacan all things in this land

then what will cum saes sum wifman

they gelded him saes the gleoman who is still at sanlac they gelded our harald cyng they cut off his beallucs these frenc men cut off his beallucs for the gold of the bastard and gold is not all he will tac now for he is cuman and he has not begun efen

there is a great moan at this a great fear mofan round all in the ham and i felt it also

i has cum to tell thu this saes the gleoman i is tellan all hams i cnawan and it it is all i can tell thu. harald cyng is dead the eorls is dead the fyrd is broc and the bastard is cuman down on lundun with sweord and fyr. he means to be cyng of angland and who will stop him now none i saes none will stop him. the roman biscop and his sancts has tacan down a great anglisc man and a bastard will be our cyng and angland will weep for a thousand years

the feld is grene it is high sumor the long grass runs ofer to a bright ea and from across the water rises roccs great and deorc and high they rises high and on them is a great stan torr and in this torr a wifman yonge and with cilde. deop in the frenc lands in this torr this wifman she is to bring forth a grendel a cweller of cyngs a fyr deoful but now she cnawan naht but that she has been had by the greatest man in the land though she is not his wif and now is bound to him

and in this torr this blaec torr risan abuf the grene felds now this wifman dreams. from her guttas where this deoful is brewan she sees growan a great treow and this treow it cums up high abuf the felds abuf efen this great torr abuf all the lands of the frenc and it does not stop there it grows higher. and the sceado of this treow she sees spreadan and mofan out and out until all of this ducdom is deorc and then across the sea the sceado mofs and the treow still growan and the sceado cums upon an other strand and still it spreads until all this other land is in sceado also and when she wacans this yonge afeart girl all is deorc as the deorc stan what cepes her in

hard it was to get odelyn to go efen baec to our hus that daeg after the gleoman cum hard to stop her wepan and cryan and wantan to go to the south to sanlac to dig on the hyll of blud for the bodigs of her sons what was cwelled there she saes cwelled for the cyng lic what dunstan had always wanted. i telt her none cnawan if this was triewe none cnawan naht her boys colde still cum baec they colde be hurt only or they colde be in lundun or sum other far place but no she cnawan she saed she cnawan they was gan she was their mothor she cnawan and her heorte now was broc she saed and naht to lif for

well i was right when i saed none cnawan for none did but still i thought she was right that our sons was gan under the hors of ingengas or cut down by sweords or shot with straels on sum cold dun and for what for men feohtan ofer the right to tac our land and our rights and mac us gif geld to them and fall on our cneows if efer they cum by for fear of the line and the treow o our mastorful ealdors how we gifs thancs for our cyngs

well i got her to the hus and sleep she did in the end though it was late before she wolde and when she did it was a broc sleep. i cnawan i wolde not sleep not for the tidans alone but for what i was again hearan for what was bean spoc to me seemed louder now efen than that first night sum wices ago and now i cnawan why he had cum. sum thing is cuman i had saed and sum thing now had cum. i seen the fugol i cnawan what the haeric star cum to sae now i was hearan sum great thing from lands other men can not see and i colde see now why i was ceosan

that night i did not sleep for i did not try to. i did not go to our bed i went down the path across the fenn and i went as night was on all the land and deop in the eald holt of what my grandfather spac them years bacc the holt of hafoc and craw. this holt it was the same as efer it was efen though all other things was cuman down on us and the craws then was still for night was long begun. i has gan to this holt many times since i was a cilde and satt always on one eald ac treow what cum down and is now foda for all in the holt. when i was a cilde when i satt in this holt as night cum i was afeart of eorcas and aelfs and scuccas but not now for now i was grown now there was naht to fear but him

for among the sounds of the night wud there was sum thing cuman cuman for me alone sum thing what had been locan for me ofer all this world

name me

and i cnawan who

name me

and i cnawan i is ceosan

buccmaster of holland

for he is tellan me now and he is not near lic he was

thu is ceosan

he is here right here right here in the holt with the craws

name me

and with me and with the fox in the blaec by the cwelled ac

buccmaster

where there is no light and no men and naht but what the land macs

name me

and i saes i name thu

weland smith i name thu

why has thu cum

why does they not lysten why does they not see

it is all that i is this why can they not see

i wolde teorn to the crist if they wolde see efen to the crist any thing i wolde do

all the lytel things cwelled the treows they tacs our names our names they tacs our tales our songs. i was grown from this ground the ground they has tacan my ground from me all that i is they tacs all

if my grandfather was here now he wolde cnaw me for what i is for i is weac in all things a small man i is all is dyan here all is gan and tacan through my weacness i is small and weac and naht i has nefer been naht

well they is naht also the fuccan frenc the fuccan ingengas may be i is weac and lic a wifman but all that i done i done for my land and my folc and all that they done they done for gold for seolfor. deofuls they is scuccas fuccan cunts all angland is gan in their fyr all that anglisc folc macd in a thousand years all gan in frenc fyr and all men in thrall and deop in sceomu

after harald cyng was cwelled the bastard he called for angland to mac him its cyng but angland wolde not. a witan of high anglisc men was called of all who had lyfed through the wars of the year of fugol and star and not many men there was but they cum together in lundun and they saed they wolde feoht the bastard though there was few men with efen axes left in all the cyngdom. this witan they called as cyng edgar aetheling whose grandfather was eald cyng eadmund when my father was a cilde. edgar was an anglisc cyng of anglisc blud but he was no mor than cilde and the witan what called him was macd of eald men too eald to feoht and the bastard he wolde not stop