The Wife's Lament

Old English Poems, tr. Cosette Faust & Stith Thompson (1918), 1. Pagan Poetry, 2. Gnomic Group, The Wife's Lament, pp. 73-74:

[...]                                        Here bitterly I have suffered

The faring of my lord afar. Friends there are on earth

Living in love,             in lasting bliss,

While, wakeful at dawn,     I wander alone

Under the oak-tree         the earth-cave near.

Sadly I sit there         the summer-long day,

Wearily weeping         my woeful exile,

My many miseries.        Hence I may not ever

Cease my sorrowing,     my sad bewailing,

Nor all the longings         of my life of woe. 

Always may the young man be mournful of spirit,

Unhappy of heart,         and have as his portion

Many sorrows of soul, unceasing breast-cares,

Though now blithe of behavior. Unbearable likewise

Be his joys in the world.    Wide be his exile

To far-away folk-lands     where my friend sits alone,

A stranger under stone-cliffs, by storm made hoary,

A weary-souled wanderer, by waters encompassed,

In his lonely lodging.         My lover endures

Unmeasured mind-care: he remembers too oft

A happier home.         To him is fate cruel

Who lingers and longs for the loved one’s return!