Page:Anglo-Saxon Riddles of the Exeter Book (1963).djvu/32

 ''uproar over houses,     and loudest of crashes, when fiercely comes     cloud against cloud like sword against sword. Darkling spirits, swift over mortals,    sweat with fire, with gleaming flame     and fearful noises. Above mankind    with dreadful din they fare fighting;     they let fall then swart rattling streams     from out their bosom, water from within. Fighting moves on the terrible host;    panic arises, a mighty fear     in the hearts of mankind; horror in towns     when gleaming shoots the gliding demon     with sharp weapons. He is dull who dreads not    these arrows of death; he dies nonetheless     if the true Lord down through the rain,     straight from above lets fly the darts     of the fiery storm, its swift arrows. Few escape this who are reached by the darts    of the hostile rain. I stand in the van    of this battlefront when on I press     the column of cloud, push through the strife     in masterful might on the breast of the burns. Crowding in battle the high storm bursts. Then down I bend under the helm of the sky    close to the ground, bearing on my back     the burden I carry by the command of him,     the all-powerful Lord.''

''Thus a mighty servant    I do battle by turns&mdash; sometimes under ground;     sometimes I must deep undermine the waves;     sometimes from on high I arouse the waters,     or rising aloft stir up the clouds. Widely I pass, swift and violent. Tell me my name,''