Paul Kingsnorth - The Wake

what will we hunt saes aelfgar

and i saes we will hunt a man

then thu is ready

i is ready

ready for the hunt

who is the prey

he is near

always thu talcs in raedels

wolde thu haf me holde thy hand cilde

i wolde haf thu tell me what i moste do

loc to thy self loc to the land do not loc to me

thu called me

go to them buccmaster go to them

that night we stayed on my land. we lit a fyr by the holt where i had slept the night i had cum baec to find all gan and we ate and dranc. i gan and toc sum aels from the fenn and we ate foda and we dranc and we spoc and i telt my men what we wolde do

when i had ate and as my men was still drencan in the deorcness by the fyr i gan walcan. i gan walcan until i found the graef of my wifman odelyn. grassed it was now but i colde see it high lic the beorgs of the eald cyngs

odelyn i saes odelyn it is me. i has tacan wergild from many ingengas for thu

i hierde naht only my men specan around the fyr

it is not enough i saes there will be mor for thu there will always be mor

i stands and i locs at all that i was

i gan baec to the fyr then and i dranc the last of the ealu we had on the straet and when i had dranc i gan down in my cape around the fyr and i slept lic i had not nefer slept in the deorcness of the eald holt that is called the brunnesweald

i becum it i becum it i was a man no mor. was i a wyrm a hara a broc i was sum thing that was not a man but was not lic any wiht i cnaw. i gan down a deop hol in to the ground deop and blaec and i colde feel the eorth in my haer on my nebb cold and wet. down i gan until i cum in to a great light place in the eorth and all around me i seen dweorgs worcan to dig gold from the rocc worcan with hamors and with hands. i flowan through this and i cum up abuf the eorth again i was in the heofon i was a fugol with a carfan bec and i flowan then flowan across water what nefer seemed to haf an end

i cum then to an ealond where there was great blaec treows higher than all things and ealdor than the rocc in the eorth and to the ground i gan and becum again a man. abuf me the blaec treows gan up to the heofon i colde not see the place where they ended deorc it was deorc with the sound of the water mofan on the blaec strand. and i stood and i called to the heofon called in to the treows in words i do not cnaw and then i seen her

she cum from the treows slow and small lic a graeg sceado. naht in her eages naht in her nebb she wore cloths but not lic no wifman in the world of men and her eages they loccd at me and i was scoccd when i seen them i wanted to run. they was her eages but dead and yet they loccd at me lic i was no man lic i was a ghast lic all things was cnawan about me efen deop in to my sawol

my brothor she saes

aelfgifu

thu sceolde not haf cum

thu is thynne thu is in fear

there is no fear here brothor

aelfgifu cum baec with me to the fyr we has ealu i has men we is cyngs of angland now

all cyngs is dust

do not go

why does thu cum after what thu done

aelfgifu

what thu done and will do

cum with me

angland is dead brothor do not raise the dead

aelfgifu

do not raise the dead

i wolde be with thu

thu will

for micel time the next mergen i colde not spec colde not eat for in the night this deorc dream had cum to me and i cnawan it was gifen to me. why had this cum i did not cnaw it macd me cold lic ys i ascd weland but weland wolde not spec nefer wolde he spec when he was ascd only when he ceose

this mergen i had thought to begin walcan for we moste go huntan and my men was ready. the night of the dream when i had spoc to my men it had again been lic the words was not mine. we is goan huntan i had saed to them and then i had telt them mor. to mac the frenc afeart i saed we moste stric at them in their strongest part lic we wolde cut the heafod of a snaec or spere the heorte of a bera or a great wyrm. cwellan frenc scuccas on the roads was a good thing but always there wolde be mor. to be great men to do great things we moste stric at a great man so all the world wolde see

my men was in sum gladness when they hierde this and was ascan me what will we do who will we tac. well i wolde not sae mor at that time for in triethwe the words was dry so all i saed was we will hunt a man a great man we will mac the bastard ingenga duc himself teorn his eages to us in fear. saen this then i colde not sae mor and i did not cnaw why i had saed any thing or what wolde cum from it. but by this time i had gifen my self to the gods to weland to my wyrd i was walcan paths laid down for me and when the words cum i moste spec them

but i seen on this mergen that the dream of aelfgifu ascd sum thing of me and that i moste gif a good answer. it seemed to me that i moste go to the eald hus again and it seemed then that this was why i had cum baec though i had walced here cnawan naht. i had spoc to odelyn at her graef and now to aelfgifu in the deorc world and now i most go in my lytel boat to the eald deop treows. though it is not seen by men there is a way to this world and sum times it can be seen as the sunne can be seen through cloud and then the eages for a lytel time is blind again

this colde be why i did not go alone this time this colde be why i toc tofe. i wolde nefer haf thought before to tac any other to the eald hus or to the treows but on this mergen with aelfgifu thynne and graeg still in my heorte and with my worc hefig on me i did so. to myself i saed that this cilde neded to see of what i spac for the eald gods was moccd by so many folcs now that their men moste gif their tales to the yonge so that the hus wolde not be forgot in the cuman deorc times when ingenga cyngs and biscops wolde together mac angland their poppet

so i telt tofe to cum with me from the fyr and he cum gladly for he was blithe about what we wolde do. i had gan locan in the fenn and i had found my eald boat there still tied with line though full of water and weods and i had clened it and it was not holed. i telt tofe to cum with me to my boat and i macd him tac the ars and row in to the fenn what on this mergen was loud with fugols and wyrmfleages as if no war had efer cum to this land. tofe saed lytel at the start but after sum time of rowan he spac

buccmaster he saes where is we goan

thu will see

is it far

far enough

well he saed naht mor then only rowed as i telt him to with his yonge mans strength until we had got to the place i wolde cum to. as i cum through the yeolo secg to the mere of the eald treows i felt a great thing i felt lic i sceolde be here that this was my place that i was wel cum baec that they had been waitan

thu has cum

now i seen why

it is past time

but i is here

thu brings the cilde

i will tell him of the eald hus

he is not of this place

i needs a son

thu needs strength

stronger i is now stronger than efer

strong men is needed for the hunt

the hunt

spec to them

i will

spec and hiere thy wyrd

tofe cilde i saes we is here stop rowan. tofe does so and locs at me as the lytel boat sits roccan in the still mere

what is this place buccmaster he saes to me

it is the eald hus cilde i saes

the eald hus

the hus of the eald gods cilde the place of the treows i has telt thu of this place before. tofe then his eages growan big as he locs at me

eald gods he saes lic he is afeart

loc in to the water cilde i saes loc down. tofe does so and as i did when a cilde he seen the treows