Winter Awakens My Care

Winter Awakens My Care anonymous Middle English poem, circa 1300 loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch Winter awakens all my care as leafless trees grow bare. For now my sighs are fraught whenever it enters my thought: regarding this world's joy, how everything comes to naught. Original Middle English text: Wynter wakeneth al my care, Nou this leves waxeth bare. Ofte y sike ant mourne sare When hit cometh in my thoht Of this worldes joie, hou hit goth al to noht. “This World’s Joy” or “Wynter wakeneth al my care” is one of the earliest surviving winter poems in English literature and an early rhyming poem as well.  Edward Bliss Reed dated the poem to around 1310, around 30 years before the birth of Geoffrey Chaucer, and said it was thought to have been composed in Leominster, Herefordshire. I elected to translate the first stanza as a poem in its own right. Keywords/Tags: Middle English, translation, anonymous, rhyme, rhyming, medieval, lament, lamentation, complaint, care, cares, sighs, winter, weather, trees, leafless, bare, barren, barrenness The Rhymed Poem aka The Rhyming Poem and The Riming Poem anonymous Old English poem from the Exeter Book, circa 990 AD loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch He who granted me life created this sun and graciously provided its radiant engine. I was gladdened with glees, bathed in bright hues, deluged with joy’s blossoms, sunshine-infused. Men admired me, feted me with banquet-courses; we rejoiced in the good life. Gaily bedecked horses carried me swiftly across plains on joyful rides, delighting me with their long limbs' thunderous strides. That world was quickened by earth’s fruits and their flavors! I cantered under pleasant skies, attended by troops of advisers. Guests came and went, amusing me with their chatter as I listened with delight to their witty palaver. Well-appointed ships glided by in the distance; when I sailed myself, I was never without guidance. I was of the highest rank; I lacked for nothing in the hall; nor did I lack for brave companions; warriors, all, we strode through castle halls weighed down with gold won from our service to thanes. We were proud men, and bold. Wise men praised me; I was omnipotent in battle; Fate smiled on and protected me; foes fled before me like cattle. Thus I lived with joy indwelling; faithful retainers surrounded me; I possessed vast estates; I commanded all my eyes could see; the earth lay subdued before me; I sat on a princely throne; the words I sang were charmed; old friendships did not wane ... Those were years rich in gifts and the sounds of happy harp-strings, when a lasting peace dammed shut the rivers’ sorrowings. My servants were keen, their harps resonant; their songs pealed, the sound loud but pleasant; the music they made melodious, a continual delight; the castle hall trembled and towered bright. Courage increased, wealth waxed with my talent; I gave wise counsel to great lords and enriched the valiant. My spirit enlarged; my heart rejoiced; good faith flourished; glory abounded; abundance increased. I was lavishly supplied with gold; bright gems were circulated ... Till treasure led to treachery and the bonds of friendship constricted. I was bold in my bright array, noble in my equipage, my joy princely, my home a happy hermitage. I protected and led my people; for many years my life among them was regal; I was devoted to them and they to me. But now my heart is troubled, fearful of the fates I see; disaster seems unavoidable. Someone dear departs in flight by night who once before was bold. His soul has lost its light. A secret disease in full growth blooms within his breast, spreads in different directions. Hostility blossoms in his chest, in his mind. Bottomless grief assaults the mind's nature and when penned in, erupts in rupture, burns eagerly for calamity, runs bitterly about. The weary man suffers, begins a journey into doubt; his pain is ceaseless; pain increases his sorrows, destroys his bliss; his glory ceases; he loses his happiness; he loses his craft; he no longer burns with desires. Thus joys here perish, lordships expire; men lose faith and descend into vice; infirm faith degenerates into evil’s curse; faith feebly abandons its high seat and every hour grows worse. So now the world changes; Fate leaves men lame; Death pursues hatred and brings men to shame. The happy clan perishes; the spear rends the marrow; the evildoer brawls and poisons the arrow; sorrow devours the city; old age castrates courage; misery flourishes; wrath desecrates the peerage; the abyss of sin widens; the treacherous path snakes; resentment burrows, digs in, wrinkles, engraves; artificial beauty grows foul; the summer heat cools; earthly wealth fails; enmity rages, cruel, bold; the might of the world ages, courage grows cold. Fate wove itself for me and my sentence was given: that I should dig a grave and seek that grim cavern men cannot avoid when death comes, arrow-swift, to seize their lives in his inevitable grasp. Now night comes at last, and the way stand clear for Death to dispossesses me of my my abode here. When my corpse lies interred and the worms eat my limbs, whom will Death delight then, with his dark feast and hymns? Let men’s bones become one, and then finally, none, till there’s nothing left here of the evil ones. But men of good faith will not be destroyed; the good man will rise, far beyond the Void, who chastened himself, more often than not, to avoid bitter sins and that final black Blot. The good man has hope of a far better end and remembers the promise of Heaven, where he’ll experience the mercies of God for his saints, freed from all sins, dark and depraved, defended from vices, gloriously saved, where, happy at last before their cheerful Lord, men may rejoice in his love forevermore.