Page:Anglo-Saxon Riddles of the Exeter Book (1963).djvu/30

 of the earth-dwellers,     their body and soul ''together in the waters. Say what covers me'' or what I am called    who bear this burden.

A storm of wind, rain, thunder, and lightning on land. Ll. 12–14 refer to the Biblical Flood.

Sometimes I set forth   &mdash;when none would expect it&mdash; under turbulent waves,     seeking the depths, the floor of ocean. The sea is aroused,. . . . .    foam is tossed up; the home of whales     roars and rages. Streams lash the shore,    violently dash up the steep strand     with sand and shingle and seaweed, when surging     I struggle and strive beneath the sea currents,     stir up the bottom, the broad sea deeps. Nor can I escape from the sea&rsquo;s surface    until He permits who guides all my ways. O wise man, say, who is it drew me    from the sea&rsquo;s embraces when the surges again     are stilled and quiet and calm the waves     which covered me first.

''Sometimes my Lord    constrains me close and forces me under     the broad bosom of the fertile fields     and holds me there, drives me into darkness,     where hard on my back the earth sits heavy. There is no escape from all that torment;    but the houses of heroes, their gabled halls,     I cause to tremble and shake the walls     of the dwellings of men, high over their heads. The air seems still in the skies above    and the waters quiet&mdash;''