The Complete Old English Poems

by Craig Williamson

  As a crowd of demons, outcasts and exiles,

  Gathered around Guthlac, brashly boasting,

  Throwing fierce words in his face, saying:

  “We know the ways of worldly men. 275

  We’ve often seen their power and prosperity—

  They’re proud of the prominent lives they lead.

  But we’ve never met such an arrogant man

  Anywhere on middle-earth. You are God’s

  Worthless wretch. You own nothing 280

  Except your vainglory. You vow to steal

  A home among us here in devils’ land.

  We will help you build a house of death.

  No one will give you the gift of food,

  No one will offer you sustenance or shelter, 285

  No one will greet you with a morning smile

  When you walk out your front door.

  Hunger and thirst will be your friends,

  Harrowing your steps like wild beasts.

  Your righteous resolve is like the mad 290

  Tenacity of a lunatic. Leave this land.

  If you want to learn, listen to us.

  We can be kind if you take our truths

  To heart. We can be cruel if you remain

  Deaf to demons. We will assault you 295

  Without restraint, without weapons, swords or spears,

  And bring your proud carcass down to darkness

  Without laying a single hand on your precious body.

  We will touch your heart with a stabbing terror,

  Your proud soul with a piercing dread. 300

  Your faith will be futile; your future, death.

  We’ll haul your house down with brutal horses

  And a host of baleful men. They will bring rage

  To greet you, ravage your home and heart,

  Trample you, tear you apart, leaving only 305

  Bloody tracks and the soul’s endless horror.

  This is your choice—safety or savagery.

  Take off or take heed. Find friends

  Instead of fiends if you care about your life.”

  Guthlac was ready—he met that rage 310

  With the courage and wisdom God had given him.

  He did not flinch in fear at their dark words

  But told the truth to those lying fiends,

  Announcing the sorrow in store for them, saying:

  “This is a wide wasteland full of hideouts 315

  For exiles and outlaws living in misery.

  You can summon many demons to stir up strife,

  But for what purpose? I promise you, I will wield

  No worldly weapon, no sword or spear,

  With a hand of wrath. I will kill no creature, 320

  Steal no space, leave no land

  A bloody graveyard. I will please Christ

  With a greater gift. I came in peace.

  You offered me some unholy hideouts

  With your devious speech. That will not suffice. 325

  I do not fear or faint. My Lord holds sway

  Over all men, all creatures, all spirits.

  He provides my peace, my soul’s resting place.

  Nothing I love depends upon you.

  I serve my Lord and Savior. His sweet angel 330

  Carries comfort to me, not endless craving,

  So I am always free of the demons of desire,

  And my longing is only for my living Lord.

  I have seldom known worldly strife or sorrow.

  Now a spiritual shepherd tends to my needs, 335

  Guards and guides me—my hope is with God.

  I care nothing for wealth, power or pleasure.

  Each day God gives me a hand with what I need.”

  So Guthlac spoke, God’s glorious champion

  Who stood secure against the host of demons, 340

  Sustained by the wondrous strength of angels.

  The fiends left the field, fled to their lairs

  To rest and recover, reshape their strategy—

  They planned no long respite to their rage.

  Guthlac lived on the hill with humble courage— 345

  He loved that home. He gave up earthly longings,

  Ephemeral joys, but kept his compassion,

  His mercy toward men, and prayed passionately

  For the salvation of every soul when he bowed

  His head down alone in the wilderness. 350

  His heart was blessed by a heavenly spirit.

  Often he wondered with the angel nearby,

  Hovering in air, how he might least enjoy

  The body’s pleasures, those worldly joys.

  His faith never faltered or fled in the face 355

  Of the dreaded demons. He never deferred

  His early dawn-call to rise up for the Lord,

  Never lay back in late morning sloth or slumber.

  A holy warrior must battle for God,

  Bear a righteous anger always against 360

  The satanic slayer, the seeker of souls.

  The demons found Guthlac firm in his faith

  When those fierce-flying devils rose up

  From their lairs, streaking through night-clouds,

  To see if his love of his home in the hills 365

  Had lessened at last. They hoped that his heart

  Would be touched by a human longing,

  By that strange affection that men call love,

  So he would leave the hills and go home again.

  But Guthlac never knew such yearning 370

  After the angel greeted him with heaven’s blessing

  And gathered him affectionately into God’s grace.

  No human craving could undo his covenant

  After the angel addressed him in the wilderness.

  Often he spoke these sustaining words: 375

  “Truly a man who follows the Holy Spirit

  With his head and heart, whose words and works

  Are inspired and strengthened by the force of faith,

  Who hopes for heaven and the promise of peace,

  Should follow the Lord’s lore, the teachings 380

  Of truth, and never let that ancient enemy,

  The hellish demon, turn his soul from salvation,

  His mind from his Maker’s gift of grace.

  A man like me must know obedience,

  Give back to God a hallowed heart. 385

  How shall my soul ever know salvation

  Unless I learn to listen to the Lord?”

  * * *

  [“Leader of demons, mover of darkness,

  Tempter and tormenter, father of hell,]

  Sooner or later your power to persecute me 390

  In the wilderness of this world will surely end.

  My body cannot set aside death from the flow

  Of this fleeting life. It will perish like the land

  That I stand on here, ephemeral as earth.

  You may break my bone-house, 395

  Burn my body with a greedy fire,

  That grim devourer, but you can never

  Unwind my words, unmake my works,

  Unpower my prayers, while my mind holds true.

  With a cruel flame you can torch my body, 400

  But you cannot touch my immortal soul.

  Your savage assaults will only serve

  To make it stronger as I eagerly await

  My Lord’s judgment, my Maker’s mercy.

  Death holds no grief for me—it’s a gift. 405

  Though my bones and blood return to dust,

  My eternal soul shall seek heaven’s homeland,

  A place of bliss. My house in the hills

  Is good enough for a man of God

  Who serves through suffering his Lord’s will. 410

  A holy man should not covet worldly goods

  Beyond what he needs to sustain his body.”

  Then the old foes’ hatred fired up again.


  The sad shrieking of those grim guests,

  Those woeful demons, rose up in the air, 415

  But the praise of Christ in Guthlac’s heart

  Protected him with a godly shield,

  The strength that saves each virtuous soul

  And lets life thrive against an evil throng.

  Guthlac never gave heed to worldly goods; 420

  He hoped for God’s grace and heavenly glory.

  In our age was there ever any greater hero,

  For whose sake and in whose sight

  Christ manifested many miracles on earth?

  Guthlac was shielded from those slaughter-guests, 425

  Who were keen to catch him in their greedy clutches.

  God would not allow his soul to suffer pain

  In its body-home, but let the terrible demons

  Strike him with their hands while protecting his spirit.

  The evil ones grabbed Guthlac, lifting him aloft, 430

  Giving him the power to see beyond the eyes

  Of mortal men the habits of immoral monks

  In worldly monasteries. Many passed their time

  In earthly pleasures, acquiring wealth,

  Robes and riches, as proud young men will do 435

  When they are not guided by a fear of God

  Or the example of their elders. The fierce fiends

  Found an end to their ranting and rejoicing

  When they discovered they could no longer

  Torture Guthlac’s body or torment his mind. 440

  They led him out of the air to the hill-home

  That he dearly loved. The demons grieved

  And mourned, lamenting that a son of man

  Should suffer such torment and survive.

  He had come through cruelty, dark thought 445

  And dire threat, alone and apparently unattended,

  For they could not see the angel in his heart.

  He would stay safe unless those devils

  Could derail his purpose with greater pain,

  Making the poor man pay for their own misery. 450

  But Guthlac set his heart’s hope in heaven,

  His soul’s trust in the surety of God’s grace.

  He had escaped the evil of the fiends’ embrace

  And overcome their first test and torture.

  So the holy warrior remained in his home 455

  On the hill—his peace, his place, was with God.

  In his heart he felt that the man most blessed

  Was one the who shielded his soul against the fiend

  So that the devil’s hand might not harm him

  When the Lord’s law decreed its last judgment 460

  At death’s delivery in the final parting.

  Yet the evil scoffers scorned the holy hero,

  Hurling insults at him out of their own agony.

  Their attempted torment could not twist the truth—

  That God had given Guthlac great gifts, 465

  Strength and courage, honor and grace,

  So that he could conquer the devious demons.

  Then the damned spirit spoke to Guthlac:

  “We wouldn’t have needed to harrow your heart,

  If you had listened to your friends and loved ones 470

  When you entered this area, poor and pitiful,

  Searching for strife, declaring to demons

  That the Holy Spirit would be your shield

  Against affliction and agony, and that the sign of God

  Would keep the hard hands of any man 475

  From savagely striking your noble face.”

  Some of you reading or listening here

  Know that many holy men indulge in sin,

  Engage in evil. This is not agreeable to God.

  You gorge yourselves at great feasts, 480

  Always greedy for the body’s banquets.

  You feed your flesh, feasting and frolicking,

  Praising God not in faith but in foolish smugness,

  Proud and self-satisfied. You hide unholy secrets

  In your hearts and pursue shameful deeds in the dark, 485

  But nothing is hidden from God’s immortal eye,

  So keep watch on yourself! Now the story continues

  With the demon leader, the cursed criminal, saying:

  “We lifted you up, leading you away

  From the land’s delights, wanting you to see 490

  The terrible truths that we had learned

  In our secret spying, the false seeming

  Of supposedly holy men. Even in your own

  Pure perception, you can’t deny their deceit,

  Their private love of power and pleasure, 495

  And this will be your agony and affliction.”

  Then God wanted to reward Guthlac for suffering

  And embracing martyrdom, so he endowed his mind

  With wisdom and fortitude. The faithful warrior

  Made a stand against those ancient enemies, 500

  Telling them again to their great distress

  That in the name of the Lord, they should depart

  And give up their lairs in that green land, saying:

  “Demons, you are now defeated, crushed and routed.

  Sin sits on your shoulders, guilt grabs at your legs. 505

  You seek no compassion and deserve no mercy.

  You will get no grace. God gave you power

  For moments over me, but you misused that might,

  Lifting me into the air, so that I could see unnaturally

  Through buildings and bodies into men’s hearts. 510

  What I saw on high, however, was not only deceit

  But the light of heaven. Then you reproached me

  Because I once tolerated the loose rules

  And wild ways of young churchmen.

  You wanted to blacken all of their names, 515

  Degrading and disgracing the worst of them,

  And overlooking the best. You refused to show me

  The saintly ones, humble and unashamed,

  Who dwell without sin in their words and works.

  Let me tell the truth to all of you liars: 520

  God created young people in the spirit of joy.

  They grow from bud to bloom, flower to fruit,

  Rejoicing in the perfect pleasure of living.

  A young man lacks the wisdom of maturity,

  But he understands the energy of existence, 525

  The joy of being. Time elders the young,

  Teaches them patience, humility, a higher calling,

  So that they can serve both God and man

  In many noble ways on middle-earth.

  Then they wisely put away vanity and vice, 530

  Embrace virtue, letting their better spirits soar.

  This is the haunting truth you always ignore

  Because it holds no delight for demons.

  You see the sins of the guilty but never

  The virtues of the good. You feast on unfaith, 535

  Sucking up shame. You are gluttons of guilt.

  You rejoice in crime and reject all comfort.

  You must wander endlessly in exile from God.

  You are thieves and outcasts who will carry off

  Nothing but judgment from the heavenly Father 540

  Who sends me here, the only one who can settle

  All disputes between us, our Lord and Judge,

  Who measures out the length of every life.”

  So the holy warrior spoke these words.

  The man was a martyr, separated from sin, 545

  But he had to endure his share of suffering,

  Though the Lord held power over his torments.

  It has seemed a marvel to men that God should let

  Those wretched demons rack him with pain,

  Afflict him with agony, yet it truly happened. 550

  A still greater thing w
as how the Lord

  Came into this world and poured out his blood

  At the hands of men with hatred in their hearts.

  He held dominion over life and death

  When he humbly bowed down, climbing the cross, 555

  Reaching through death to redeem mankind,

  Enduring the malice of murdering men,

  Those who persecuted him here on earth.

  So we should sing praise-songs to the faithful,

  Extolling their deeds to our Lord and Savior, 560

  Praising him for the stories of such steadfast people

  Whose lives reflect the wonder of his works.

  The gift of grace was given to Guthlac,

  A godly power and spiritual strength.

  It’s a great task to tell his courageous story 565

  From beginning to end. His almighty Father

  Sent him in the vanguard against his foes,

  Those secret, satanic marauders of life.

  His soul was severely tested and tormented,

  Yet it proved true through every trial. 570

  His bravery was assailed by evil enemies

  But never bested. He never faltered.

  It is well known throughout the world

  That he kept his courage and his spirit thrived

  Through the will of God. He never wavered. 575

  He trusted his Guardian to protect his soul.

  Yet there is more to tell of the trials he endured.

  His holy heart withstood the clutch of fiends.

  Evil spirits set upon him with sin and savagery—

  They lusted for his life. But even the darkest 580

  Demons cannot control death or doom,

  So Guthlac’s soul waited patiently in his body

  Until God decreed a more peaceful passing.

  The fiends grew furious when they saw that God

  Would save Guthlac from their fierce afflictions, 585

  As he can easily do with all blessed ones,

  And would judge them harshly for their harrowing crimes,

  So they hurried him down to the gates of hell,

  Hoping to hound that holy communicant

  Into unholy fear. They approached the dread doors, 590

  Where after death’s agony, the sinful and unsaved

  Must seek entry to the underground abyss.

  There they menaced the holy man with the threat

  Of pain and possession, terror and torment,

  And descent into darkness, as demons will do 595

  When they desire to unmake a righteous man,

  Seduce his soul with subtle doubts or secret sins.

  They wove deceit into a wormlike weapon,

  Telling Guthlac that his heart was unholy,

  His mind impure, his place in hell secure. 600

  He would live forever in a house of fire,

  His skin and soul a scorch of pain.