Page:King Alfred's Version of the Consolations of Boethius.djvu/261



That in autumn later    languish and fall.

Winter brings    very cold weather;

Swift are its winds;    summer then comes,

The warm weather;    Lo! the wan night

Is lit by the moon,    till the morn is brought

To men by the sun    over this spacious world.

He has, the same God,    to sea and land

Their boundaries fixed;    the flood dares not

Over earth's borders    her sway to broaden

For the tribe of fishes,    without the Lord's favour;

Nor may she ever    the threshold of earth

Lightly overtread;    nor may the tides either

Bear the water    over earth's borders.

These are the commands    that the glorious King,

The Bright Life-Giver,    does let while He will

Keep within bounds    His noble creatures;

But when the Eternal    and the Almighty

Looses the reins    that rule all creatures,

Even the bridle    wherewith He bound

All that He fashioned    at the first creation

(By the bridle we speak of    we seek to betoken

The case where things    are all conflicting):

If the Lord lets        the bridle loosen,

Forthwith they all leave    love and peace,

The friendly union    of their fellowship.

All things whatever    their own will follow,

All world-creatures    shall war together,

Till this our earth    utterly perish,

And so also other things,    in the same fashion,

By their own nature    become as nought.