Paul Kingsnorth - The Wake

ecceard locs at me lic he is with me but he is not with me he is doan what he is bid by other men again for this is his worc in his lytel lif

it may be there will be no feohtan buccmaster he saes they will be baec for the haerfest for this is the duty upon the cyng

i saes fucc the cyng but so ecceard only colde hiere and he locs at me then in sum ire and saes naht and teorns and walcs with the fyrd down the path and naht mor he specs. ecceard has always been a hund he will tac scraps from any man who has them and no care will he gif to who is fedan his fatt mouth

well then all is madness on my land. gamel has gan from me he is walcan the path baec to his hus to tac what lytel things he has and go after the fyrd. in my hus my sons dunstan and eadberht is macan around with their things also and odelyn is frettan lic a moth who can not reach the bright mona through wattle. ah my boys she is saen my sons thu is yonge to be feohtan ah my husbond she saes to me do not let these boys cum to harm

of what is thu specan i saes does thu thinc i can cepe these boys they is men why does thu not asc the cyng to cepe them it is no tasc of mine. i was in a great ire i was thincan that no man in angland is left alone no mor that my grandfather was right that all was cuman apart around us that sons and geburs can be toc away by sum hore in a helm without efen gold bean gifen. if ingengas is cuman we sceolde feoht them on our ground in our way not in sum other land for the will of harald of wessex

then dunstan is stood by me he has a sacc with his things in and in his eages there is blud. eadberht he is mofan slow lic there is sum curse upon him lic sum deorc wyrd gathers him in but dunstan he is lic a fyr risan to the heofon

father he saes i sceolde tac the sweord

of course i cnawan of what he is specan for he is locan at my grandfathers sweord all on the beam of my hus lic in his own time

i is a feohtan man now he saes i is feohtan for angland i sceolde haf a sweord

thu is goan to a fyrd with sum herd of geburs i saes thu is not aelfred. this sweord is not sum cildes thing thu has not nefer swung it efen it is as long as thu

it is a sweord for cwellan ingengas saes dunstan this is what thy grandfather telt thu

do not fuccan spec to me of him i saes to dunstan and i macs my words hierde then in my hus loud. thu did not cnaw him all thu has seen is his graef this is not a sweord for the fyrd where will thu be cilde in sum fuccan feld in wessex loccan at the sea all daeg. this sweord is for when this hus moste be feoht for it is not to be tacan from my land

dunstan then he locs at me and in his eages there is ire agan me i has seen this many times but also it seems there is sum other thing what is not ire but is sum thing smaller. odelyn is locan at me lic i is doan sum misdaed but it is her misdaed locan at me this way before my cildren

to dunstan and eadberht then i specs lic a father sceolde. go i saes and do what is ascd and do naht mor and cum baec. tac what thu needs from the barn there is sithes there and axes. cum baec cwic for there is worc to be doan and thy mothor will pine as mothors do. dunstan then he locs at me both these things still in his eages and i wundors what this feoht will mac him and i saes go then or they will cum baec for thu and both my sons after grippan their mothor lic cildren again both my sons is tacan from my hus and one of them only saes faren wel

i stood loccan at them go and sean also my dumb gebur asger goan baec to the waet feld locan for weods and singan as if naht had cum and when all had gan from my sight i teorned baec in to my hus. here was odelyn only standan and at her side her gebur annis who was not lic my wif in no way. odelyn was thynne but annis scort and fatt and while odelyns haer was gold annis had blaec haer with all graeg in a widewe was she her husbond had been sum gebur and when the fenn fefor toc him she had naht and cum to worc for me for what i colde gif her

thu sceolde haf gifen him the sweord saes my wifman

she cnawan this was a misdaed as soon as it was specan

sceolde i saes

it is only my thought she saes it is naht my husbond

again i saes sceolde. now she macs with annis to go baec to her loom lic she had saed naht lic there was naht in the air but she cnawan there was

thu fuccan tells me what i sceolde sae to my son i saes what i sceolde do in my hus

she saes my husbond it was only my dumb thought

thy dumb thought and thy dumb locan i saes thy locan at me before my sons lic thu is tacan waepens agan me

i wolde nefer tac waepens agan thu she saes but this is not enough if she belyfs words will right her lies she does not cnaw who is mastor of this hus. i saes to her that she is settan me up for a liar and a dumb esol in front of my cildren and what does she thinc she is doan and she saes naht only locs down at her feet lic a hund lic always and stands still to mac her self lytel. she has no pryde and pryde is neded in a wifman i saes and i strics her about the nebb that will teacc thu to haf sum pryde in thyself i saes. sum times this is enough with her and no mor is needed but this time she saes naht does not efen loc at me it is lic i had done naht. well this is not right and it is triewe i was in a great ire now lic any man wolde be my sons was gan my gebur gan also and i was thincan of how this man in the helm loccd at me

loc at me when i is specan to thu wifman i saes i is the man in this hus i has lost two sons and a gebur to sum cunt in a helm this ground will fall asunder and thu is with those who wolde mocc me. i will not be mocced by no fuccan wifman who sceolde stand with me and i strics her again and she falls then and she strics her heafod on the stans what is weightan down the warp threads of her loom and she is on the flor hwinan lic a cat in a water pael all blud and spit and annis runnan round her lic an ael on a glaif and she is weac weac it is a sad sight to see

what wolde thu do without me i saes who wolde teacc thu these things who wolde teacc thu to be a wifman. but as she has no pryde she does not answer

i is the eald one

dweller in the beorgs

i walcs the high lands

i macs the hwit hors and the hwit man

i is forger of wyrd and waepen

cweller of cyngs

i walcs through deop water to cum to thu

name me

at this time with my sons and my best gebur gan it seemed to me that all was lost but in triewth naht had begun efen and if i was triewe to my self efen then i wolde haf saed so. sum thing was cuman still the fenn was tellan me this and the fugols and the treows and though sum lytel thing had cum it was only the first sparc of the great fyr

well this fyr has cum now it has cum and it has beorned high and strong and for many years and it has eten all angland in it and now angland is but a tale from a time what is gan. if thu can thinc on what it is lose efry thing thu is thinc on this and if thu belyfs thu wolde do sum thing other than what i done if thu thincs thu wolde be milde or glad to those who wolde heaw away thy lif from thu then thu is sum dumb esol who lifs may be in sum great hus with all warm fyrs and rugs and sum cymly wif and has nefer suffered naht

but as there is a time after angland so there was a time before and i thincs of this sum daegs when i is moste weary and i thincs of when my grandfather toc me to see where the eald gods lifd before the crist cum. this place was sum way from our hus it toc us one half of a daeg to reach this place i was still a yonge cilde and until we had cum to it i did not cnaw what we was doan for my grandfather he wolde not sae he was a man who wolde not sae. he had toc me from my fathers hus early in the daeg it was in the month of litha when all is bright when blosms is open and buterefleoges is floteran on them. we was in his boat again and on to the water of the fenn and in litha with all bright and hued wyrmfleoges and all the heofon writhan with lif and with the risan sunne on the nebb of the water the fenn what can be so blaec and deop and cold on this mergen was a thing of great wundor