Paul Kingsnorth - The Wake

i will go also saes godric for it is time now to feoht. he does not loc at me neither the cunt

and i saes siward. now all of them is agan me and this is what weland had saed this is what i had always cnawan and in sum ways this macs things good for now i cnawan i owes them no triewth. only aelfgar and tofe saes naht i seen them locan at me but i cnawan what they is thincan and i cnawan also what i moste do

well this is good i saes for this is what i had cum to tell thu all this mergen. i is goan to tac thu to hereweard

to the castel of the crist

thu saes grimcell and i is blithe to see i has fryhted him into specan with me

i leads this werod cottar i saes and i has telt thu all we is goan huntan well now we gan we will go to elge

huntan what saes annis

this is worc for my werod i saes not for wifmen nor geburs. now men we is goan to elge for i wolde spec to hereweard angland needs great ealdors now who leads great werods and he will see what i has to bring him

he will saes godric who is already standan

well i saes then cum men tac thy things for we is goan to elge

thu gan to him

thu will see what i will do

thu gan to gif thy weac small self to great hereweard

thu will see what i will do weland smith and no mor will thu spec lic this

is this so

this is so

well there is sum thing new in thu this daeg cilde

i is no cilde

then what is thu

i is buccmaster of holland thu will see what i will do

i did not cnaw where the path wolde lead that daeg but i cnawan it was the right path. i felt that daeg sum new thing had cum in to me and weland he seen it too. as we ciccd ofer the fyr on my eald land by the graef of my cwen odelyn by the hus of my grandfather and all his cynn as we macd ready to leaf i seen in my heafod again the fugol what had cum to me that daeg two sumors ago and i was thincan again of the words i saed then. sum thing is cuman i had saed sum thing is cuman i had felt it then and i felt it now. in the eald holt of the brunnesweald i had lost the way for i is a man of the water not the wood but here in the blaec fenns here where i was grown from here now again i was cum in to my self

and so we gan for elge all of us aelfgar siward godric tofe and grimcell and this annis also. they had thought to leaf me but they wolde not leaf me now and together we all walced down the fenn ways

well i cnawan the gods wolde gif me a gift this daeg and i will tell thu now what it was and how it ended. lif is gan from angland now and from all this deorc world so why not spec why not tell there is naht left in this dead land for any good man to lose

there is mist all ofer the blaec fenns this night and from behind the mona sum thing rises. before the mona stands the ealond with the cross the ealond with the circe reaccan to the heofon and from behind the mona sum thing rises sum gathran of wihts and men and thu cilde thu they cums now for thu

we walced that mergen on the paths towards elge though we nefer seen it for it was still sum daegs awaeg. there was a mist on the land and high was my heorte to be baec in the place i had cum from and wolde always be of. the paths here was not the paths of the holt with great deorc treows all around these was fenn paths. sum times they gan through meados and past eald small hams but micel time they gan through the fenns with secg on both sides and this gladdened my heorte. the fugols that sang here was the fugols i cnawan and the heofon was the heofon of my cildehood and for a small time i felt that my heorte had cum baec to where it sceolde always be. the mist cum round the secg cold as we walced saen lytel and sounds colde be hierde that was lic the sounds of my eald lands when i was still a man

but we had not walced for long before we hierde other sounds and these was the blaec sounds of men. we was cum from a small fenn to a place where the path we was on met a straet what wolde taec us to elge. the mist was still on the land as we cum to the straet out of the wet secg of the fenn and we hierde as we cum the sound of hors cuman up from the west

well we all gan baec in to the secg as we hierde this for we was cepan awaeg from all men. there was many frenc in these parts and they cnawan of the grene men and was ired. the sound cept cuman in the mist and then out of the hwitness of it cum three scapes and in these three scapes was the end of it all for me

it was three men on hors and two of them was frenc cnihts lic we had seen at stan ford. their heafods was scafd they wore clothes of style and had sweords at their belts. but the man in the middel of them he was no cniht. this man wor clothes of deorc brun and ofer them a cape of blaec and on this cape was wofen lines of gold and a thing of beuty it was if beuty is to be found in the things of men. this man he had a nebb set lic style as all frenc do and a lytel blaec cenep but his heafod was not scafan lic the cnihts it was scafan lic a munc and around his throta on a line of gold he wore a great cross of wud

a preost i saes a frenc fuccan preost

he is no preost saes annis he is a biscop

the crist

well it had cum it was my time and nefer has i done a thing so triewe and so fast. the gods had spac to me and this had been sent and this now this was my wyrd this wolde bring the eald gods baec to angland and again we wolde rise again from our land again we wolde cum in to our selfs and be men in angland for efer

i calls tac him and i runs from the secg to the frenc men. i tacs my sweord from my belt and i strics one of the cnihts hard on the scanc and cuts him deop and he is afeart for he did not see us and he grips his hors and his scanc and begins to fall and the other cniht and the biscop they tacs their bridels and tries to stop their hors and they begins callan in their fuccan ingenga tunge and goan for their sweords

well my men is not ready i had not spoc to them of this it had all had started from naht but when they seen me go they moste go also. tofe cum first callan and grippan his scramasax and when he seen him aelfgar cum too and siward and godric and when he seen them grimcell he cum also and here again now was my werod feohtan in our fenns agan the frenc lic we always sceolde haf been

well the cniht i had struc with my sweord was off his hors now and on the ground and my men done him fast lic we had done many frenc scuccas. now the other cniht he was cuman round on his hors strican at us with his sweord and the biscop the fuccan biscop of crist he had in his hand a great clubb and he too was on his hors standan and callan and strican at the heafods of my men and efen i cnawan that the crist tells his scepe nefer to cwell no man so what was this

well my men gan for the other cniht first and they tacs him off his hors with hardly no cutts on them and to the ground he gan and is cwelled fast tofe goan in to his throta with a scramasax now lic he is cuttan a snaec a man he has becum. and then we is left only with this biscop. we is all ofer the straet so he can not go past on his hors without cuman to us and on efry side of the straet there is fenn

men i saes men do not cwell the biscop

why not calls aelfgar this is a great gift from the bastard

a great gift i saes so we will do mor than cwell him

and then the biscop specs. it is not oft that any frenc men specs to anglisc in their own tunge but this biscop he cnawan what we spoc

then thu is hereweards men he saes and this is thy wel cum to me. thu will be wel cum to hel before this daeg is done by the will of thy cyng geeyome

he is not our cyng i saes he is a fuccan frenc ingenga scucca and we is anglisc men and thu now is ours

if thu wants me he saes still on his hors grippan his clubb then thu moste tac me anglisc man