Idle delights, the wounds of appetite, 375
The lures of sin, seeking bliss in a better self.
Our heavenly Father will always help us.
He will send down his angels from on high
To shield us from the bitter arrows of our enemies,
The scathing slash and sting of our adversaries, 380
The savage fiends who would offer us injury
When the demon-archer, our dangerous foe,
Draws back his bow, lets fly his dart,
Sin’s dark arrow, a deadly battle-snake.
So we must keep watch against the sudden shot, 385
The unexpected arrow, the subtle sin,
Lest bitter death should enter in
Beneath the bone-shirt, the shield of ribs,
To touch the heart with the devil’s venom.
That is a grave wound, a ghastly slash, 390
A pale gift for the perishing soul.
Let’s guard ourselves while we live on earth,
Rely on our Lord as our shield and sanctuary,
Pray to the Son and the blessed Spirit
To protect us from the snares of sin and deceit, 395
The hatred of our enemies, the hostility of our foes.
God gave us life—limbs, body, soul—
Bone-house and spirit-breath. He will shield us
Against all evil. All praise to the Lord,
His glory in heaven, his world without end. 400
No one on earth need fear the devil’s arrows
Or the flying spear-shafts of fiends
If he has God as his strength and protection,
The Lord of hosts as his demon-shield.
The day of judgment, the day of doom, 405
Is not far away, when we shall receive
Our just reward for the deeds we’ve done
Over a long lifespan on middle-earth.
The scriptures tell us how God’s holy treasure,
His glorious Son, leapt into a life 410
On middle-earth in the Virgin’s womb.
Truly I fear for myself a dread doom
When the Lord of angels comes back again
Because I have not obeyed the Lord’s laws,
Followed what the Savior wisely said. 415
I will surely see terror and torment,
The wages of sin, when I am brought
Before the Lord in that last assembly
To face my Father in final judgment.
Here runes wrap in a riddle my maker’s meaning: 420
Mankind (Cynn) shall tremble in great terror
When the King of creation comes in judgment.
He will hear heaven’s Ruler speak sternly
To those who forgot to listen to the words
Of the lord while they were living on earth, 425
When they might have found for their poverty (Yrmþu)
And need (Nyd) some ease in Christ’s comfort.
Many men will wait in fear for their lack of faith
On that broad plain, wondering what punishment
They will reap as a reward, what doom for their deeds. 430
Then worldly joy (Wynn) shall lose its luster.
Fortitude (Ur) will flee, one of life’s joys
Lost long ago under earth’s wide waters,
The great lake-flood (Lagu) that swallowed up
All worldly wealth (Feoh). Then on Judgment Day 435
Our gathering of goods, our treasures and trinkets,
Will go up in flames. The ravaging fire,
Swift and savage, sun-bright, blood-red,
Will run wild, rampaging across the world,
Sacking cities, crushing castles, heaving halls 440
Down into dust, leaving bright land burnt,
Turning broad plains into a blaze of perishing.
Fire is the greediest traveler, a ravenous guest.
It steals man’s treasures, women’s jewels,
Every good hoarded so ungenerously on earth. 445
Every proud piece so carefully guarded
Will go up in smoke, a scorch of gold.
Therefore I offer these words of advice
To those I hold dear: never lose sight
Of your soul’s needs or let your spirit 450
Swell with pride while God gives you a place
To dwell in this world, while soul and body—
That ghostly being and its guest-house—
Travel together. Each person must ponder
The deeds he’s done in past days 455
And remember how the Lord of might
Came bearing mercy to middle-earth,
A healing pity as the angel first promised.
When he returns, he will be stern and just,
Bearing a righteous wrath. The sky will shake, 460
The heavens heave, and all the great powers
Of the world will wail their imminent doom
As the radiant King rewards them all
For their sin-stained lives, their vile deeds.
Then the soul-weary ones shall suffer endlessly 465
In a ring of flames, a bath of fire,
When the mighty King comes in majesty
To sit in judgment upon the multitudes.
Then the heavens will trumpet terror,
People will mourn their sinful lives, 470
Their descending doom. Multitudes will weep
Before the Judge—those whose faith was unfirm,
Whose good works remain undone.
The sound of terror will fill the land,
The loudest cacophony heard on earth 475
Since the first creation. Then each desperate
Sinner shall search for a safe hideout,
Which he would willingly trade for all his goods
In that rush of triumph, that crush of terror,
When the Lord of hosts, the Prince of peoples, 480
Comes to judge us all, the loved and the loathed,
The dear and the despised, the faithful and the foolish,
His friends and his foes, with a righteous reward
For the lives they’ve led, the deeds they’ve done.
All people on middle-earth need to ponder 485
The state of their souls in this drift of days,
This barren season before that dread time.
Life is like a hard and harrowing voyage,
Sailing our ships across cold waters,
Riding our sea-steeds over the deep, 490
Alone on the ocean in seafaring wood.
The current is dangerous, the sea savage,
The waves driven by wind, as we struggle
In this turbulent world, this stormy life—
Till at last we sail over the roiling seas 495
Into a safe harbor, guided by God’s grace,
His Spirit-Son, our help and haven,
Our safety and salvation, so that we may know
While riding the waves where to heel and hove
Our sea-steeds, moor our crafts, 500
Lock on land, and leave hard traveling.
Let us anchor hope in that harbor,
Leave transience for trust, where the Lord and Savior
Has opened a way, prepared a port,
A haven for us, ascending into heaven. 505
CHRIST III: JUDGMENT
The third part of the Christ triptych describes the second coming of Christ on Judgment Day. It is a poem in which, as Kennedy notes, “the cosmic fury of the fires of Doomsday and the hope and terror with which the souls of men are brought to Judgment are superbly set forth” (1943, 242). Greenfield points to a number of religious sources for the poem—“an alphabetic hymn attributed to Bede, material from Gregory the Great, Augustine, Caesarius of Arles, and other Christian writers on the great theme of Judgment” (Greenfield and Calder, 193), though Muir believes that “the Bible is its principal source and inspiration”
(418). Clayton adds that “the poet also seems to have been familiar with vernacular sermons” (xii). Garde traces the central religious issues raised in the poem: “Many aspects of salvation history are considered in this poem, including man’s original lapse into sin; the historical non-recognition of the Saviour; contemporary man’s desired relationship with God and his neighbour; the constraints of the Christian faith and the eschatological expectations appropriate to each soul” (192).
In narrative terms, Christ III: Judgment progresses from the clarion call to judgment through a description of Christ’s suffering on the cross, which parallels in some respects The Dream of the Rood in the Vercelli Book, and ends with the judgment of the damned and blessed and a description of the respective eternal homes of each—the fires of hell and the bliss of heaven. The narrative movement is often complex as it weaves back and forth in time, connecting Creation, Crucifixion, and Judgment Day with the narrator’s own present time. The poem is full of what Kuznets and Green call “numerous starts and stops and … seemingly illogical digressions as well as an initially bewildering repetition of scenes and motifs” (227), and such sudden shifts in time and focus are characteristic of other OE poems such as Beowulf. Thomas Hill points out that “one way of defining this event is in terms of temporality: human, secular time ends as divine time begins” (239). The poetry of eschatology is everywhere interwoven with the narrator’s preacherly advice to his listeners or readers to take heed, while they may, of the prophecies and warnings in the poem and to commit themselves to virtuous Christian living while there is still time to save their souls.
Christ III: Judgment
Suddenly at midnight, the crash and call
Of almighty God’s judgment on Doomsday
Shall rise up ringing and ripping
Throughout creation, a tear in time,
A terrible dread to mortal men— 5
Just as a daring and dangerous thief
Who prowls in the dark might rise up
And suddenly strike the careless sleeper,
Assaulting the unwary, attacking the unready.
So on Mount Zion a multitude of God’s faithful 10
Shall gather together, gleaming and glad,
Radiant in their reward, the gift of glory.
Then from the four corners of creation,
Bright angels shall begin to blow their trumpets,
Blaring and blasting loudly in unison, 15
So that the ground shall tremble underfoot,
And all of middle-earth shudder and quake.
The angels will issue their clarion call,
Trumpet their summons to the circling stars
From south and north, east and west, 20
Waking the dead all over creation,
Calling the children of men to their doom,
Their day of judgment, their fixed fate—
Telling all who have perished and lie moldering
In earth to rise up from the depths of sleep. 25
Then you may hear a multitude of mourners,
Dismal and undead, lamenting their deeds,
Their lifelong undoing, their works of woe.
Then a portent shall appear, the greatest ever—
Angels and demons, bright and dark, 30
Shall gather together, the buoyant and baleful,
And each of them shall be appointed homelands,
Unmatched dwellings of delight and dread.
Then suddenly to Mount Zion, out of the southeast
Shall come the blazing light of the Shaper’s sun, 35
Brighter than any mind can imagine—the glittering
Son of God gliding through the vaults of heaven,
The glorious countenance of Christ the King
Glaring out of eastern skies, fresh to followers,
Fierce to foes—our savior and scourge, 40
Unlike to each, the righteous and wretched.
His countenance to the good shall be beautiful,
His spirit sweet and glad, his mind merciful,
Generous and loving to those who loved him
In this life. He will be a friend to the faithful. 45
The sound of his voice will be sweet to their ears.
He will save those who served him in words and works.
His countenance to the evil shall be terrifying,
His spirit unmerciful to those condemned for their crimes.
This should be a warning to any wise man 50
Who fears judgment and flees from sin,
If he does not fear when he comes to greet God,
When he sees the embodied Lord of creation
Moving toward judgment in his glorious might
With angels around him, circling and singing. 55
Creation shall cry out and before the Lord
Great raging fires will sweep over the earth.
Ravaging flames will resound and roar,
The sky will split, planets plummet,
The bright, steadfast stars plunge down. 60
The sun, whose bright radiance has sustained
The children of men since the dawn of time,
Will darken and brood, blood-red,
And the moon, whose softer, reflected radiance
Has brightened the night, shall descend, 65
And the stars shall be scattered by a deadly wind,
A Doomsday fire-storm that knows no end.
Then the Almighty, Creator of kings,
The Lord of glory, shall suddenly arrive
At the judgment meeting with his angel host 70
And all of his faithful servants, the holy souls,
When the Prince of power seeks out all people
To offer them unending delight or endless doom.
Then the heavenly blare of bright trumpets
Announcing peace or panic, shock or security, 75
Shall be heard over the wide plains of the world.
The winds shall rage and howl from seven sides,
Break and blow, rise up and waste
The storm-ravaged land, unshelter mankind,
Inspire with fear all earthy creatures. 80
Then an infinite, immeasurable crash shall come,
A bright sound that blinds the eye
And deafens the ear, a tumult of terror,
A sign of reckoning, dreadful to mankind.
Then people shall pass through the widening fire, 85
Blown up, beaten down in the blazing whorls,
The glut of flame. Fear not that Adam’s seed
Will escape the heat of terror, the time of woe.
Men will gnash their teeth and twist their minds
Not for some small torture but for the grimmest 90
Of griefs, the unmaking of middle-earth,
As the conflagration of God blazes and consumes
The shape of creation—the fish in the seas,
The mountains of earth, the heavens with their stars—
All blasted, all wasted. Then misery and dread 95
Will stalk the land and middle-earth will mourn.
Then that greedy ghost, the fire-guest,
The ravening blaze, will blast buildings,
Harrowing homes, ravaging the land,
Sheathing the world in a savage flame. 100
City walls will shatter, mountains melt,
Cliffs will collapse—those rocky guardians
That have always separated land and sea,
Shielding the headlands from fierce floods
And the houses of men from whirling waves. 105
Then the death-fire shall seize and devour,
Like a raging warrior, an untamed terror,
All of earth’s creatures, birds and beasts,
Fish and fowl, a dread clutch of kinds.
Where winding streams wandered the land, 110
Rivers will blaze in a bath of fire,
And fish will frantically swim in boiling
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Unbreathable water, a scalding doom.
Ocean beasts will be burned alive,
Sinking hulks in a sizzling sea. 115
Water will burn like wax. Such wonders
Will baffle the minds of men on middle-earth
When the firestorm lays waste to the world,
And the blazing wind is a winding sheet.
Men will wail and moan with misery, 120
Penitent before that fiery pestilence,
Fearful of God’s judgmental flame.
The dark fire will seethe and set down
On those damned by sin. Deep regret
Will come too late to stave off ruin. 125
The flames will gorge on gifts of gold,
The worthless clutch of kingly treasures.
There will be squeals of pain, screeches of woe,
Hearts howling, souls shrieking,
The embattled strife of those last moments 130
Of life beneath the rage and roar of heaven.
No person stained with sin will find peace
Or flee from the relentless judgment fire
That will search every creature’s burrow,
Every living thing’s hearth and home, 135
Seizing every once-abounding life form
Until all creation is cleansed of crime,
All sin singed away, all earth unstained.
Then mighty God, Lord of creation,
King of all angels, will come to the mountain, 140
Shining in glory over the great gathering,
His noble army of angels circling round,
Wrapped in light. Deep in their hearts
They will all tremble in fear of the Father
And the coming judgment of reward or wrath. 145
It’s no wonder that worldly, impure people,
Snared in sin, should be stalked by dread,
When even the archangels in their bright glory,
Righteous and radiant, fear the fire
Of the Lord’s judgment. The sense of dread 150
On that terrible day will shiver the souls
Of everyone on earth when the King calls them
To rise from the grave, unmoldered, undead,
To come to judgment, blessed or baleful,
In the grim silence that greets all speech-bearers. 155
Then Adam’s sons from time’s beginning
And Eve’s daughters shall suddenly end
Their earthly rest, rise up from the ground,
The clutch of clay. At the coming of Christ,
Each human corpse shall be quickened. 160
Bones shall take on muscle and sinew,
Hearts shall be whole, limbs shall live.
Every man and woman shall be full-fleshed
The Complete Old English Poems Page 44
