Page:King Alfred's Version of the Consolations of Boethius.djvu/265



Truly tame,    if they come to the trees

In the heart of the holt,    soon they heed not

Those that taught them,    who long time before

Trained them and tamed them. Wild in the trees

Ever thereafter    their ancient nature

They gladly follow,    though fain would their teachers

With cunning tricks    offer them tempting

Even the food    that in former days

To tameness enticed;    the twigs so pleasant

Seem to their minds,    the meat they heed not,

So pleasant for them    when woodland sounds,

When they can hear    the piping choir

Of other song-birds;    then do they send

Their own notes forth. All together

The sweet song raise;    the wood is ringing.

So too with each tree    whose nature 'tis

That in the grove    it grows highest,

Though that you bend    a bough to the ground,

It upward leaps    when you leave

The wood to its will;    it goes to its kind.

So too the sun    when that it sinks,

Noon long past;    the shining lamp

Hastens sinking,    on his unseen journey

Ventures by night;    then in the north-east

To men appears,    to earth-dwellers brings

Clear-bright morning,    and over men mounts,

Upward ever,    until he comes

To the topmost station    where he highest stands.

Thus every creature    with all its might,

Through this wide world,    goes and hastens

With all endeavour,