Translation Three Manuscript Section 1a

lines 1-17

The Wanderer 

Translation by Michael Alexander

(lines 1- 5)

Who liveth alone longeth for mercy,

Maker's mercy. Though he must traverse

Tracts of sea, sick at heart,

- Trouble with oars ice-cold waters,

The ways of exile - Weird is set fast.

(lines 6-7)

Thus spoke such a 'grasshopper', old griefs in his mind,

Cold slaughters, the death of dear kinsmen:

(line 7- 14)

'Alone am I driven each day before daybreak

To give my cares utterance.

None are there now among the living

To whom I dare declare me throughly,

Tell my heart's thought. Too truly I know

It is in a man no mean virtue

That he keep close his heart's chest,

Hold his thought-hoard, think as he may.

(lines 15-17)

No weary mind may stand against Weird

Nor may a wrecked will work new hope;

Wherefore, most often, those eager for fame

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