The Wake

by Paul Kingsnorth

the times after will be for them who seen the cuman the times after will be for the waecend

a man sceolde be free and alone on his land the world sceolde not cum in

until he ascs it.

i was specan of this fugol i will not spec yet of the frenc

when i was seen these men was always in awe buccmaster they all saes gretans to thu buccmaster

oft i lost my mynd with them

runnan from ingengas in our own land that is no longer our own land

no thegns there was then no preosts no crist no cyng of angland but free men alone in the wilde tacan the land men in freodom not in thrall.

what can cum now by specan of these things at efry teorn the gods was agan us

no i will go on i will tell it i moste

it is early in the mergen it is gan eostur now when the land waecens from winter all the land is cuman open all is grene and waecnan.

this is my ground ecceard i saes and there is naht thu has on me.

as a great man i greets them well now as i seen they is cum in freondscipe

lif is a raedel for dumb folc but the things i has seen it is not lic they sae. the bocs and the preosts the bells the laws of the crist it is not lic they sae

there is sum of us saes my grandfather still cepan alyf the eald gods of angland

many lic ecceard and others on the wapentac seen that i was not at the circe on many daegs and this did not mac them blithe and sum there was talcced of ordeal for me and saed this was not right and that sum thing moste be done for the crist was mocced.

still i will not spec of my father this is an oath his name is gan from my tunge he is naht to me i will not loc at his graef as i pass for what he done. but at the low grene graef of my grandfather i will sitt in stillness though he did not want no graef at all

anglisc folc cum here across the sea many years

ago. wilde was this land wilde with ingengas with wealsc folc with aelfs and the wulf.

naht but lytel fugols callan naht but water runnan slow

thu moste see the hafoc tac down the craw he saes and thu will see that all of the world is blud and thy worc is not to lose thine before thy time. be the hafoc not the craw nor the ael for this is how we cum to this land and it is what we is

i was thincan of things in these times sean things at night and sum times in the daeg and not cnawan what i was sean til later.

it is hard i wolde asc my wifman i wolde asc odelyn but odelyn is gan

with odelyn i had three cildren fyrst oswiu my cilde fyrst son to his father and his folc oswiu who did not lif a year. the fenn fefor toc him

then dunstan cum then eadberht true sons of the fenn they growan to be men growan to cnaw this world but not to lif through what the bastard brought.

these was my cynn i will haf blud for their blud i is not done i will haf my wergild in frenc blud

this is no good ecceard i saes it is weodmonth

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

woden thunor ing they did not cum for harald cyng for dunstan or eadberht or odelyn lic they had not cum for all the men of sanlac.

but i sceolde spec with care for i did call and sum thing sum thing cum

i was thincan also of why i was cursd to be all the time with esols and those who was agan me

when i locs baec now all is clere.

Reflection ?

sum part of me cnawan that if there was to be a man in holland ceosan for greatness then of course it wolde haf been buccmaster