Anglo-Saxon Riddles of the Exeter Book/Annotated/21

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Anglo-Saxon Riddles of the Exeter Book (1963)
translated by Paull Franklin Baum
1188500Anglo-Saxon Riddles of the Exeter Book1963Paull Franklin Baum

21 (k-d 7)


Silent is my garment     when I tread the earth
or dwell in the towns     or stir the waters.
Sometimes my trappings     lift me up over
the habitations of heroes     and this high air,
and the might of the welkin     bears me afar
above mankind.     Then my adornments
resound in song     and sing aloud
with clear melody     —when I do not rest
on land or water,     a moving spirit.
Hrægl min swigað     þōn ic hrusan trede
oþþe þa wic buge     oþþe wado drefe
hwilum mec ahebbað     ofer hæleþa byht
hyrste mine     þeos hea lyft
mec þōn wide     wolcna strengu
ofer folc byreð     frætwe mine
swogað hlude     swinsiað
torhte singað     þōn ic getenge ne beom ·
flode foldan     ferende gæst · :⁊

Swan.