Paul Kingsnorth - The Wake

shafd

shafd lic moncs they has no ceneps no haer on them

all men does

not these frenc no haer and all their nebbs is set lic style all they lufs is gold and the beornan all they lufs is deorcness. worse they is than the denes for the denes has sum triewth but these frenc has only lust

then anglisc folc moste feoht

they has been feohtan buccmaster anglisc folc has been feohtan while thu was here worcan to cepe thy sons from the fyrd. they has feoht and has been cut down and who is left to feoht now. at sanlac harald cyng was cwelled also his brothors his thegns so many of the fyrd. the north still beorns from the cwellans of the landwaster what anglisc is left to do mor than bow the heafod as these scuccas cums from the sea to eat in fyr all that we has

we will stop them

thu buccmaster thu will stop them. will thu and sum eald geburs from the ham and their wifmen all ride out agan the bastard and his great fyrd

i will not gif all to them why sceolde i do this why sceolde any man

it is too late buccmaster thu has seen this cuman thu seen the fugol and the haeric star thu lost thy sons thu moste see that the crist is not with us buccmaster. it is lic the preosts saes we has synned lic in the boc now we is brought to the ire of god

where is this synn

all around our cyng was an oath brecer the biscop of rome gifs his flag to the shafn men the crist is agan us he sends the ire of his father with the duc of the frenc

this is all scit and beallucs ecceard crist and synn and preosts we is men that is all. men with other men agan us if they stands ofer us we moste feoht them or we will die there is naht else in this world

buccmaster a fyrd was called if thu was wantan feohtan thu colde haf gan thu cannot feoht them now thu cnawan naht

and thu is a fuccan hund

how will thu feoht them will thu wait in thy hus with thy eald sweord till they cums with hors is thu sum great god agan a fyrd. it is too late for this now thu moste gif them geld or die there is naht else

thu is a fuccan nithing to sae this what is thu sum wifman in thy hus scittan in thy scirts does thu belyf we has no strength in this thing

the crist has the strength

the crist has cut thy fuccan beallucs off and the bastard will haf them ofer the fyr thu cunt scut thy mouth and get out thy fuccan sweord

i has no sweord i

then tac thy sithe or thy hoe or tac thy lytel fuccan pintel from thy breces and be a fuccan man

ecceard was a hund and a cunt but in triewth there was sum strength in what he saed to me for we was one small ham in the blaec fenns and now the frenc was here how was we to stand agan them. ecceard was a man made of fear always he wolde bow it was his first thought but the first thought of a man sceolde be to stand agan other men to cepe them out to cepe their hands from his land and his sawol men moste be free or all is lost

but we was not free now and i wolde not gif geld and others also talcan to me had saed they wolde not also though in their eages sum thing saed to me that if the frenc cum to them with their shafd heafods and their nebbs lic style these men cwic enough wolde find what was needed in their barn and their hus to cepe the eorcas from their wifmen and the fyr from their thaecc. this is men now this is men of angland weac weac weac and unfree thralls for efer in their own fryht

odelyn

i does not want to

all this beuty gan in fyr

frenc fyr ecceards fyr

the last thing a free man has

gan

tacan

from me what was mine

but all moste cnaw these things as in the star it had been spoc now in the aesc it was cum to be. lysten it was sum wices on and i was out in my boat gan to tac aels gan to the place my grandfather toc me to what was sum way from my hus. i was gan early as the sunne cum up cold it was and all the secg hwit lic cristal and odelyn when i gan she was lightan the fyr and as i gan she smerced at me ofer her sculdor and it was the last i efer seen of her

the aels was smaller than when i was a cilde harder to find there was mor folcs now and mor feohtan ofer what the land had for them and all belyfan it was their right to haf what they colde and so it toc sum time to get what i was needan and to mac my way baec to my hus. from far out on the fenn i colde see it as i cum baec fillan the heofon it had been a bright daeg but now the heofon was blaec lic the graef

the graef of the frenc

fucc the frenc loc at this loc at this loc what they done all of this all these things my grandfathers hus the land of my folc efry thing worcced for all of what i was all of me

all beorned it was. i cum out of my boat out of the fenn i cum through the secg and through the treows and my land is gan it is gan lic all had only efer been naht. all heges down all barns beorned my swine cwelled bledan in the holt my oxen slit open my sceop all blaec and cwelled their heafods off my aeppel treows cut all to the ground and then the hus

the hus my great hus all of its greatness gan up to the heofon callan for blud now callan where was thu cepan this land where was thu buccmaster tacan aels while thy lif gan into the ground. all gan it was i cum up to it and all was a great graef of smocan blaec aesc the blaecness risan lic treow stoccs lic the arms of thunor up to the heofon. i cum up near and it beorned me still the fyr was beornan hot in the aesc

in there was all the things of my lif all cum down in to this hot and deorc place. i colde see the great beams half gan colde see scaps in the fyr what i cnawan and beornan i was in my heorte also beornan and wepan. and i gan then i gan to the path through the treows and down to the ham for smoc there was too cuman from that place and risan up gifan all the blaec fens a blaec heofon

blaec heortes

and what they done well thu cnawan for they done it all ofer angland they done this and now we is lytel hores in their beds lytel cildren used they fuccs us smercan they saes we is thy gods we has the flag thu will lie down it is his will loc at this anglisc gold it is a wundor bend before me cilde i is thy fuccan cyng

well all the ham was beorned efry hus was gan in fyr and many still beornan and in sum hus colde be seen folc blaec also twisted and becum mete beorned on the fyr for the hunger of the bastard. in the gathran place on the straet was two wifmen on the ground cut and fuccd all blud and rags sum geburs wimman one dead the other mofan in sum small way and wepan and bledan and it wolde not be long befor she was tacan by craws and hafocs and this a good thing for her eages was gan it was lic sum great hund had cwelled his hunger in her

there was naht here no mor naht to see no hus and no folc naht but this great blaecness this great stincan in the heofon and this on a daeg what had been colde and clene and full of micel beuty in the beginnan. the fugol cum i saed the fugol cum to mac us see but we did not see so the star cum and still we did not see and now it is done and all is gan but buccmaster of holland for he is ceosan yes ceosan for angland ceosan for what is yet to be gifen to him

so sum was cwelled and beorned and sum was gan i cnawan not where into the holts and fenns i was thincan to cepe clere of these frenc scuccas to cepe their lifs and in the ham there was no sound but the beornan. i gan ofer to ecceards hus to see if the frenc had been good to their little hund but i saw cwic he was fuccd as bad as all for his hus too was blaec aesc and stincan smoc. i was standan locan into the aesc locan for ecceard to see how beorned he was when i seen a man cuman from the holt what led out on to the fenn. this man he called to me and on my belt was a scramasax and i tacs this in my hand

do not cum here i saes

buccmaster thu moste cum

so he is not frenc i thincs and as he cums to me i seen he is sum cottar from the ham. i has seen him but not spoc to him for i is a socman with three oxgangs