Page:The Dream of the Rood - ed. Cook - 1905.djvu/24

Rh the world. Not once alone, but many times, had I reflected on the tree of glory, before I had disclosed the miracle concerning the glorious tree, as in the course of events I found related in books, in writings, concerning the sign of victory. Until that the man had always been buffeted by billows of sorrow, was an expiring, though he in the mead-hall had received treasures, appled gold. Y (?) lamented; the companion suffered affliction, an oppressive secret, though before him the  measured the mile-paths and proudly ran, decked with wires. has waned, pleasure has decreased with the years; youth has fled, the former pride. U (?) was of old the splendor of youth; now, after the allotted time, are the days departed, the joys of life have vanished, as glides away, the hurrying floods. Every one's is transitory under the sky; the ornaments of the field pass away under the clouds like the wind when it rises loud before men, roams among the clouds, rushes along in rage, and again on a sudden grows still, close locked within its prison, held down by force.'

This may be condensed about as follows :

1. When I was young I received gifts in hall, and was present when my horse careered across the plain in gorgeous trappings (or, perhaps, when the horses of others were raced); yet I was not happy, for I was still a sinner.

2. In later years I was converted, and life acquired a new meaning. I began to reflect, practised the poetic Rh