Paul Kingsnorth - The Wake

do not be afeart cilde i saes i has telt thu of this. and i telt him then as we sat in the boat all that my grandfather had telt me when a cilde. i spoc of woden of thunor of ing of balder and frigg of what the preosts done and of the cuman baec we awaited the cuman baec what wolde cum when angland was triewe and in need

when i has stopped talcan tofe locs at me and then again ofer the boat in to the water where the great blaec stoccs colde be seen deop under the mere

this is a fearful place he saes

no i saes not fearful all men here feels as they sceolde feel when in the hall of a great ealdor. they is here they is still here they is locan at us tofe and they is waitan for us to be waecened. hope for angland now is not in fyrds in eorfic or ingenga cyngs it is under this mere cilde in these treows

tofe saes naht only cepes locan down

what will we do here buccmaster he saes

i has cum to asc them the way

the way

i moste haf stillness cilde i saes stillness now. i colde not stand and spec to the gods with the cilde there so instead i moste be still. in the boat then roccan slow on the mere in the mergen sunne i closed my eages and i spoc to them that only i colde hiere

we gan huntan i saes huntan for angland

i has cum to asc thu

who sceall be hunted

who sceall be hunted

and as i satt then in the boat roccan on the water all the sounds of the mere they cum baec to me as one. the wind the fugols the wyrmfleages the mofan of the secg and the water on it all of them cum together for me and i hierde them then i hierde the gods spec through the world itself i hierde the words they gaf to me in the specan of the wilde and the words was clere as ys in a winter well

the crist

the crist

the crist

blaec water blaec and deop and naht mofan. night time the mona full the secg still the ule callan the fenns is still this night there is no sound in no place but the ule far from here far in another world

the mere is deop and wid and from this strand can be seen an ealond blaec in the night hwit undor the mona. the ealond is long and on it a great hus of stan lic a castel but not a castel for there is a cross on it this is a hus of the crist an abbodrice. around this abbodrice a wall and around this wall a mere and no way out

the mona has risen it is high and hwit only now to loc at it seems it is sum other thing also for the mona is becuman sum thing else. it is becuman a heafodpanne it is red now red lic blud ofer the abbodrice and now the mere the stan of the hus of the crist the secg all is red and still no sound in all the world only the fenn growan deorc under the heofon the waters growan red and men all ofer angland mofan to this place to stand for the last time as men of their cynn

well what to do with this what to do. when the gods specs a man moste lysten but they specs as in the raedels of a gleoman or the song of a fugol. my men is by the fyr in the aesc of my hus waitan for me to lead them in the huntan of a great ingenga waitan for the eages of the bastard duc to teorn on us in the fenns and see our great strength at last but raedels is all i has to follow

so micel to thinc of and my mind deorc all deorc all deop lic the mere of the gods. cuman baec on the boat to the secg by my hus with tofe rowan and the lytel boat mofan under me i was thincan of the last time i left this place when i was a yonge man when i was sent away i was thincan of how deorc things was then also and how deorc my mind

well i tried to tac my grandfathers bodig i tried to put him in the boat to send him in fyr to the gods well i seen now i is a man that this was a dumb thing to do but i colde not let my esol father gif my grandfathers bodig to the preosts. but to the preosts he went for i colde do naht and my father my dumb father he beat me beat me so hard i colde not thinc my own father nefer wolde i thinc this of him efen of him

in the mergen after in the dawn my father cum to me with a sacc and in this sacc was sum loafs sum ealu a scramasax sum clothes and shoes a fyr stan and sum other things. well in the night he had left me on the ground bledan and breathan and he had toc my grandfathers bodig and put it baec on the bier and put the blosms baec on it so that all was the same and he had not saed one word to me

now he cums to me in the light of the daeg and he gifs me this sacc

son he saes these is thy things today thu will be goan from this hus. thu has broc all things here now and thu is wel cum no mor

father

thu is a man now son thy lif is thine thu is my son no mor. thu has brought sceomu on me lic thy grandfather before thu and i has telt thu son i has telt thu there will be no mor of this no mor in this hus. on my death this hus and land will be thine for thu is the only son of mine what lifs. but after this daeg i will not loc upon thu again in this world

well my father was dumb an esol a scucca for all that he done but i was a cilde and he was my father and on this daeg my heorte was broc. aelfgifu she ascd my father so many times not to do this not to send me away but he wolde not hiere her and put her in fear so that she saed no mor. on the land then we stood and i gripped her and she me and there was tears efen from me for i was a cilde and not yet strong as i wolde becum

brothor she saes

aelfgifu

i wolde cum with thu but

i will go alone i is man now mor man than him

he may cum to sum other thincan he may thinc again thu colde cum baec in sum lytel time when our grandfather is in his graef it colde be that our father will wel cum thu

i will not wel cum him

brothor

i will not and when i sees him again he will be on his bier with blosms on him and i will send him on a fuccan boat in to the mere and i will fyr that boat with blitheness and the gods will see how angland has been sold

aelfgifu she saes naht only mofs her head with tears cuman from her eages

aelfgifu my sistor i will cum baec for thu

brothor

i go now i go in to the fenns i go to lif in other parts and when thu sees me again sistor i will be ealdor of this land

well i colde say no mor i colde stay no mor i wolde weep i was still a cilde and though i had becum a man this daeg to leaf aelfgifu was a hard thing my sistor my dear sistor my luf and

i gan then i teorned and i i walced the path that toc me in to the holt. i toc the sacc from my father and all other things i left behind not cnawan if i wolde efer see them again. all was blaec in my mind and in my heorte but in the heofon was sum thing that wolde cum for me in time and bring me to what i wolde be

tofe and i cum up to the secg and gan from the boat in to the water. i hid the lytel boat what was so eald now i hid it in the secg for i did not cnaw if i wolde be baec here and we gan baec to the fyr on my land to find my men

well we colde see before we got to them that they was not alone. we had left aelfgar and siward and godric only by the fyr but we colde see now that there was two other folcs with them and they not frenc they was specan lic all was well lic they was freonds and when i gan near i seen them and they seen me

it was one man and one wifman and to see both of them it was lic a strael in me

buccmaster saes the man and he stands as i walcs to the fyr

thu

buccmaster what was saed will not be saed again

i will cwell thu esol go from this place now

it is my place also

why is thu here grimcell

why is thu

we has cum baec to my lands we has worc to do in the fenns

we has cum here also for we had no other place to go and we wolde see what had becum of our ham. we did not cnaw thu wolde be here

now i locs at the wifman who is with him and i cnawan her i had cnawan her when i seen her from far off