#exeter book

'Where is the horse? Where the rider? Where has the giftgiver gone? Where are the seats of the feast? Where are the wonders of the hall? Alas, the bright cup! Alas, the mailed warrior! Alas, the glory of the lord! How that time has passed away, dark under nightcover, as if it never were.'

-- The Wanderer (Eardstapa), lines 92a-96b, from the Exeter Book. This poem served as the inspiration for Tolkien's Lament of the Rohirrim, as published in The Two Towers, "The King of the Golden Hall":

"Where now the horse and the rider? Where is the horn that was blowing? Where is the helm and the hauberk, and the bright hair flowing? Where is the hand on the harpstring, and the red fire glowing? Where is the spring and the harvest and the tall corn growing? They have passed like rain on the mountain, like a wind in the meadow; The days have gone down in the West behind the hills into shadow. Who shall gather the smoke of the dead wood burning, Or behold the flowing years from the Sea returning?"

courtyard pavements were smashed; the work of giants is decaying.

Roofs are fallen, ruinous towers,

the frosty gate with frost on cement is ravaged,

chipped roofs are torn, fallen,

undermined by old age. The grasp of the earth possesses

the mighty builders, perished and fallen,

the hard grasp of earth, until a hundred generations

of people have departed. Often this wall,

lichen-grey and stained with red, experienced one reign after another,

remained standing under storms; the high wide gate has collapsed.

Still the masonry endures in winds cut down

persisted on__________________

fiercely sharpened________ _________

______________ she shone_________

_____________g skill ancient work_________

_____________g of crusts of mud turned away

spirit mo________yne put together keen-counselled

a quick design in rings, a most intelligent one bound

the wall with wire brace wondrously together.

Bright were the castle buildings, many the bathing-halls,

high the abundance of gables, great the noise of the multitude,

many a meadhall full of festivity,

until Fate the mighty changed that.

Far and wide the slain perished, days of pestilence came,

death took all the brave men away;

their places of war became deserted places,

the city decayed. The rebuilders perished,

the armies to earth. And so these buildings grow desolate,

and this red-curved roof parts from its tiles

of the ceiling-vault. The ruin has fallen to the ground

broken into mounds, where at one time many a warrior,

joyous and ornamented with gold-bright splendour,

proud and flushed with wine shone in war-trappings;

looked at treasure, at silver, at precious stones,

at wealth, at prosperity, at jewellery,

at this bright castle of a broad kingdom.

The stone buildings stood, a stream threw up heat

in wide surge; the wall enclosed all

in its bright bosom, where the baths were,

hot in the heart. That was convenient.

Then they let pour_______________

hot streams over grey stone.

un___________ _____________

until the ringed sea (circular pool?) hot

_____________where the baths were.

Then is_______________________

__________re, that is a noble thing,

to the house__________ castle_______

Swa þes middangeard ealra dogra gehwam dreoseð ond fealleð; forþon ne mæg weorþan wis wer ær he age wintra dæl in woruldrice. Wita sceal geþyldig, ne sceal no to hatheort, ne to hrædwyrde, ne to wac wiga, ne to wanhydig, ne to forht ne to fægen, ne to feohgifre, ne næfre gielpes to georn ær he geare cunne. (62-9)

- The Wanderer (Old English) from The Exeter book

So this earth declines and falls, every single day; And so a man cannot become wise before he has his share of winters in the world. A wise person should be patient, should not be too hot-hearted, nor too hasty with words, neither too weak a warrior, nor too reckless, neither too fearful, nor too quick to rejoice, nor too greedy, nor ever too eager to boast before he knows for sure.

One of the oldest known books of English poetry, the Exeter Book, which was inscribed in the 10th century, appears to have been used as both a coaster and chopping block at two different points in time. – WTF Fun Facts

That passed over, so can this.