Saturday, December 03, 2005

The Last Words of Beowulf

Command the battle warriors, after the funeral fire,
To build a fine barrow overlooking the sea.
Let it tower high on Whaleness as a reminder to my people.
And let it be known as Beowulf's barrow
To all seafarers, the men who steer their ships
From far over the swell and the salt spray.

1 comment:

Littlestone said...

Though falling slightly outside the remit of Megalithic Poems, The Last Words of Beowulf come from that transitional time some fifteen hundred years ago when the 'Celtic' peoples of Britain and the Anglo-Saxons came face-to-face. Beowulf's words seem to ring out with a power that perhaps both cultures would have equally understood.