Paul Kingsnorth - The Wake

i cwelled a frenc thegn

and then thu slept

i is not slepan i is thincan

thincan is for wifmen

they is thincan while weafan and reapan

thincan while bean fuccd up the arse by frenc men

thincan their men is weac

i has ascd thu

is thu sum cilde

who is this other

he will gather men they will follow him

i will gather men

he will tac down the ingenga he will be thy cyng

where is he

he is cuman

who

he cepes his great sweord for great things

we neded mete

mete is all thu is

i will use it well i will use it well

the time for that is gan

the time is here i will gather my werod i is ready

he is in the holt

in the holt

hereweard is cum

oh i had cnawan he wolde be ired for what i done with his sweord his great sweord what he macd for my grandfather and what i had used in a low way and now he had telt me what he wolde do. now he had telt me there was another in the holt a greater man and triewe to the sweord and he telt me i was weac and i was not weac i is a socman i is strong. well for a small time i was in ire and fear thincan i was lost but then i seen what he cum for and why he spac. for if he had left me for another i was thincan he did not need to cum to spec to me and yet he did and i cnawan why

great weland had cum to try me lic the eald cyngs was tried he had cum to sae to me buccmaster there is another and to be triewe thu moste be greater than him. well this other this hereweard i did not cnaw him nor cnaw if he was efen a man but i cnawan now what i moste do to be triewe and for the first time since i cum to the brunnesweald then i felt strong

i gan right baec then to the hus and the fyr where grimcell and tofe still was sittan and talcan and when they seen me they loccd up for they had thought me to be gan a long time

grimcell i saes tofe we moste go

go saes grimcell

i has been gifen a sign i saes now we moste go

a sign saes grimcell

it is not for thu to asc i saes i is tellan thu now there is worc to do

worc saes tofe is we gathran buccmaster is we gathran our werod

cilde i saes we moste go huntan

what will we do saes grimcell always he is ascan

always ascan i saes always what and why and where grimcell lysten to me man there is worc to do

for wices we has satt in these wuds saes grimcell and all has been still and now thu wolde feoht all the ingengas in angland

grimcell i saes thu is an anglisc man a man of holland now thu will lysten to me. we is goan gathran we is goan huntan we is goan to gather a werod and we is goan to feoht. thu will ceose if thu wants to cum but this cilde and i we is goan now

i is ready saes tofe

grimcell locs at me and at the cilde and he locs around and well what will he do here alone. he stands

it was lic this i woc in the mergen sum three daegs after i had hierde from my grandfather of the boar who spac and sum thing was not the same. it wolde not be the same efer now i seen as i locd at my father stridan about specan low and my sistor aelfgifu wepan and wepan. well i seen before any folcs colde spec i seen what it was for in the night while i had slept my grandfather he had gan to the other world

it was still early in the mergen but in the great hus of my grandfather the wifmen of the ham was layan him out. i stood outside the hus for sum time for i was not strong enough to see him gan to see him laid down cold but soon aelfgifu cum for she colde see what was in me and she toc my hand and in the hus we went together

the hus was always deorc with the stenc of smoc but this daeg there was also the stenc of beornan wyrts. my mothors sistor agnes was leadan for i had no mothor she was with two wifmen from the ham one was annis who was later to be my wifmans gebur though she was yonge then and the other was her mothor. they was doan what wifmen does at death they was beornan the wyrts and singan the eald songs as they laid out the great hwit bodig of my grandfather

he was laid out on his bed with blosms around him and with leafs also for it was sumor and he was in a scirt of hwit and blaec brices and his great eald boots what i had seen him in efer since i was a small cilde. he was clene his great beard hwit though thynne and his eages scutt now for efer and in sean this i colde not be strong no mor and i wept lic a maeden and aelfgifu she held me until i was strong again. all this time these three wifmen they spac naht to us only busy macan the place right and singan the songs

aelfgifu my sistor and i we went out again in to the sunne for the daeg was high and clere and of great beuty and this was right for the daeg when my grandfathers sawol had gan to find his cynn folc. but i cnawan what was done in these parts when a man was gan and i was afeart

aelfgifu i saes what will they do. she cnawan what i is thincan right then

i does not cnaw she saes but i thinc it will be the preost and the circe

they can not

thu cnawan our father thu cnawan how our grandfather was seen

no preosts no circe

all i cnawan she saes is how it is done. he will be in the hus for two daegs while folcs cums to see and to bless and spec and sing and then in the dawn he will be tacan along the blaec trac to bacstune and to the circe and there his graef will be macd and the preost will send him under and abuf

this can not be

then what brothor

bury me in my boat sistor he saed beorn me in my scip

brothor these is not the eald times

i moste spec to him

he is gan

no i moste spec with our father

lysten i has telt thu i will not spec of this man well thu will see why thu will see for my father was yfel. oh strong he was strong and tall and was thought of by sum in the ham as a great man. ascetil of holland thu wolde hiere folcs saen lic they was talcan of a thegn or a cyng well for me he was not great all he gifen me was fear this man all he gifen his cynn was fear

no esol was he and he wolde let no man spec ofer him for he moste always be right my father he moste always be cyng. all that he cnawan he seen as the triewth for all men and there was none colde spec agan him and if thu was his cilde thu wolde cnaw it. well i was his cilde but i seen things that this man had not seen

my father raised me in the circe of the crist as all did in those times for all was blind lic the frenc is now macan us blind. anglisc folcs has had their sawol eatan i saes eatan first by ingenga god and then by ingenga cyng and now what is angland but an ealond in the mist seen when the heofon mofs but nefer reacced again. my father he raised me under his hwit god under his man god but i left him for i hierde the call of the mere and my grandfather who toc me there was now gan lic the land we haf been

well this daeg i gan to my father i walced to his side where he stood in the hus locan down at the hwit bodig of my grandfather saen naht. oh always i wanted to spec to my father to tell him how things sceolde be to feoht him to say father i is man and as man i will do as i wolde. but always when i cum to him when i locd in his eages i colde sae naht for his strength was all in his bodig and to stand agan him was to stand agan the rocc or the water

well this daeg i gan to him as he stood there with the wifmen frettan all round him and as i cum up by him he teorned and he locd at me and in his eages i did not cnaw what i colde see

father i saes

son

thy father is gan

thy grandfather

he was a great man

he was a man

for sum time i colde not sae what i had cum to sae and i thought to go but i cnawan that if i did not sae naht now i wolde nefer sae naht