Tuesday, November 28, 2006

The Ruin

Well-wrought this wall: Wierds broke it.
The stronghold burst...

Snapped rooftrees, towers fallen,
the work of the Giants, the stonesmiths,
mouldereth.

Rime scoureth gatetowers
rime on mortar.

Shattered the showershields, roofs ruined,
age under-ate them.

And the wielders and wrights?

Earthgrip holds them - gone, long gone,
fast in gravesgrasp while fifty fathers
and sons have passed

Wall stood,
grey lichen, red stone...

1 comment:

Littlestone said...

Though the Anglo-Saxon poem, The Ruin, is thought to describe the remains of Roman Bath, the first part of it at least fits well with Stonehenge (and I need something to accompany the recently discovered, and possibly the oldest, known sketch of Stonehenge above ;-) This rendering of the poem is by Michael Alexander in his, The Earliest English Poems. ISBN 0-14-044594-3.