Wulf and Eadwacer (trans. by Roy Liuzza)
By Unknown
Translated by Roy Liuzza
It's as if someone should give a gift to my people—
they will kill him if he comes to the troop.
It is otherwise for us.
Wulf is on an island, I on another.
Fast is that island, surrounded by fen.
The men on the island are murderous and cruel;
they will kill him if he comes to the troop.
It is otherwise for us.
I felt far-wandering hopes for my Wulf,
as I sat weeping in the rainy weather,
when the bold warrior's arms embraced me—
it was sweet to me, yet I also despised it.
Wulf, my Wulf! My wanting you
has made me sick—your seldom coming,
my mourning heart, not lack of meat.
Do you hear, Eadwacer? A wolf bears away
our wretched cub to the woods.
One can easily split what was never united,
the song of the two of us.
Roy Liuzza, "Wulf and Eadwacer (Translation)" from Old English Poetry: An Anthology. Copyright © 2014 by Roy Liuzza. Reprinted by permission of Broadview Press.