I am greatly indebted to Patrick O’Neill for sharing with me portions of his work-in-progress on his edition, Old English Psalms. His prose translations were a great aid to me in my task of translating the OE psalms into modern strong-stress alliterative poems. I have drawn upon aspects of his work in my translations.
The Metrical Psalms of the Paris Psalter
51
* * *
He feared nothing and felt no need
For help or protection but firmly trusted
In his abundant wealth and vain boasting—
But I am like a flourishing olive tree,
Trusting forever in the house of God 5
And in his mercy and steadfast support.
I acknowledge you, Lord, now and forever
In the world you’ve created, gathered in goodness,
Wise in the sight of the holy ones who find
Shelter in your strength, comfort in your keeping. 10
52
The fool asserted in his unwise heart
That there was no God. Such men are abominable,
Corrupted with cruelty, polluted with pride,
Made monstrous by their own evil desires.
Knowing no good, they achieve no good— 5
Not a single one of them. Then the holy Lord
Looked down from heaven on the children of men
To determine whether any of them at all
Discerned his power, divined his purpose,
And earnestly desired to seek God. 10
But everyone on earth was idle and empty,
Full of nothing but the same false vanity.
It was painfully clear that no one wanted
To work God’s will—not a single one of them.
Can you not see, you dealers of iniquity, 15
That you devour my people, consume them greedily
Like gluttons gorging on the best bread?
Are you incapable of understanding?
They never call on the Creator in fear,
They never feel a sense of dread. 20
So the mighty Lord shrewdly scatters
The bones of those who please only themselves.
They despise God and will be despised.
Who out of Zion will offer the Israelites
Eternal salvation except God himself, 25
The holy Lord, when he kindly releases
His beloved people at last from bondage?
On that day Jacob shall be gathered in gladness,
And all of Israel shall begin to rejoice.
53
Save me, God, in your holy name.
Release me from my enemies, my fierce foes.
Deliver me now through your precious power.
Hear my prayer and heed my words.
Devious strangers have often assailed me, 5
Seeking my soul, powerful people
Who never held God or his goodness in their sights—
But God will help me. The eternal Lord
Will be my shield, my soul-sustainer.
My steadfast defender will never deceive me. 10
So remove the treacherous evil of my enemies
And cast them down in your righteous wrath,
Scattering them abroad like lost leaves.
Let me please you, Lord, with my glad offering,
And acknowledge your name, for I know it is good. 15
You have delivered me, Lord of life,
From trouble and torment, hardship and woe,
Keeping your watchful eye on my enemies.
54
Hear my prayer, holy Lord.
Do not despise the desperate pleading
Of one who is suffering, tormented by grief.
Watch over me, Lord, in my time of affliction.
Listen to my words, my fearful lament. 5
I am bitterly beset, assaulted by enemies,
The clamor of fiends, my treacherous foes.
Injustice approaches, descending on me.
The malice of my enemies is a heavy burden.
Deep in my heart is a troubled spirit. 10
The fear of death descends upon me.
Terror takes hold of me at every turn,
Finally enfolding me in fierce darkness.
Then I said to myself in the stillness of my mind,
“Who gave you wings to fly like a dove 15
Out of the shadows to a place of rest?”
So I will escape, winging into the wilderness—
For I have lived a long time in the desert—
Waiting for one who can carry me home,
A great hero who can find me a remedy 20
For timidity of mind and ferocity of heart.
I have seen the strife and brutality of cities,
The evil and injustice stalking the streets
Both day and night, a plague of peoples
Bound for perdition. Let God cast them down, 25
Divide their tongues, unravel their languages,
Leaving them dumb to the minds of strangers,
The meaning of sages. May the weight of hardship,
The cruelty of conflict, climb over their walls
And strike them down. May terror and treachery 30
Settle in their hearts. May hard misery,
Usury and injustice, be upon the land.
If my enemy curses me with devious lies,
I can bear the brunt of that scorn and slander
With quiet courage. Though my foes torment me 35
With malicious words, I can hide from their hatred—
But you were my friend, my comfort and counsel.
We kept close company, sharing sweet meals,
Walking together into God’s holy house,
Sharing our thoughts, always in agreement. 40
Let death now come unexpectedly to my enemies.
Let those who defile me descend into hell.
Let those who revile me vanish from the earth,
For cruelty and deceit dwell in their guesthouses—
Evil makes its home in their ghostly hearts. 45
I cried out to the Lord among the multitudes,
And my Savior heard me and heeded my plea.
Morning and evening and also at midday,
I declare my longing to my beloved Lord,
Knowing you will gladly hear my voice. 50
Lord, may you come to rescue my soul,
Deliver me from the evil intentions of my foes.
Save me now from their treacherous snares.
God will hear my prayer and humble my enemies.
He is the Lord who has always been 55
Before beginning, after ending, abiding forever.
But the faithless are fixed in their evil ways—
They will never fear or revere God.
They perjure themselves with false testimony.
They defy his covenant and are cut off in his anger, 60
For that promise was created close to his heart.
Their slippery tongues are smoother than oil,
Their words are venomous as battle-darts.
Set your trust in the Lord, who will always sustain you,
And never feed you insults or a feast of deceit. 65
He will never let the heart of the righteous
Become the home of a ravaging spirit.
Lord, you will lead the wicked down
Into the pit of destruction, of torment and terror.
Those bloodthirsty men filled with treachery 70
Will never find solace in their earthly endeavors
Or any deep pleasure in their wicked lives;
But I will trust myself to my beloved Lord.
55
Pity me, Lord, have mercy on me,
For every day treacherous people torment me
And trample me down from dawn to dusk.
Many enemies attack me, and my only hope
Rests w
ith you, my Lord of glory. 5
I will praise God with my willing words
And trust that his favor will follow my plea.
I believe in God and will flee foreboding.
What fear should I have of mortal men?
For nothing men do can terrify me. 10
All day long they revile my words
And stir up strife with their evil designs.
They lurk nearby to dog my heels,
To hide their haunting, to steal my steps.
So, Lord, my soul expects this outcome— 15
That you will cast your all-seeing eye of vengeance
On these miserable men and deliver them doom.
Let your wrath and rage descend upon them.
Let me sing out my story to you, O Lord.
I have given you my life, my wealth of suffering, 20
My treasure of tears, as I’ve often promised.
My enemies will flee if I call out to you,
Pleading for you to become my protector,
For I know in my heart you are truly my God.
Let my psalm be both praise and prayer 25
To honor my Lord with a devotion of words.
I will acclaim my Lord all day long.
In your protecting arms, I fear no peril,
No menace of men. In me, O Lord,
Lives the obligation to fulfill my vow 30
To praise your protection, your steadfast aid,
For you have kept my feet from stumbling,
Saved my eyes from bitter tears,
And delivered my soul from the pains of death,
So I might please God in the light of the living. 35
56
Pity me, God, have mercy on me,
For you alone are my soul’s trusted haven.
Let me sleep securely in the shadow of your wings,
Sheltered by your feathers till evil passes by.
I cry out to the supreme and sovereign God, 5
Who has treated me well. He sent to this world
From the high heavens a living gift,
A saving power, the Lord himself,
To rescue and redeem me, deliver me from misfortune.
He reproached those who would cast me down 10
And grind me fiercely under their heels.
Almighty God sent forth to us here
In his merciful forethought a promise and purpose
Together in trust. He rescued my soul
From the teeth of deceit, the arrows of iniquity, 15
The savagery of those who prey on the poor
And the unprotected like ravenous lions.
Their devious tongues are like slander-sharp swords.
In the claws of deception, in the depths of dream,
I was sorely troubled as I lay sleeping. 20
So rise up exalted in heaven, holy Lord—
Let your glory extend over all the earth.
My enemies have set treacherous snares
For my unguarded feet, subduing my soul.
They have dug me a pit with their hateful hands 25
And have fallen into their own deep iniquity.
I have seen them sliding into the abyss
With my own eyes. My heart is ready,
My soul prepared to sing psalms to God,
To serve him well with true words. 30
Let the joy of the psaltery, the strains of the harp,
Rise up in the morning, as I rise up
To praise you, Lord, among all the people.
I acknowledge you here, almighty, eternal,
And lift up my psalms to the listening world. 35
Your mercy is generous as the endless heavens,
Your truth is boundless beyond the clouds.
Your glory is exalted above the heavens,
Your splendor extends over all the earth.
57
If you speak the truth and seek justice,
Then fairly judge the children of men.
You held untruth and iniquity in your heart,
Shaping evil with your own hands,
So your punishment for that was a clutch of grief. 5
Men wander into wicked ways from the womb,
Twisting truth throughout their lives.
May anger greet them like a certain serpent,
A cunning worm that people call the asp.
This devious snake stops up its ears 10
So that it falls deaf to the healing charm
That wise men chant to protect themselves
Against its venom that poisons the heart.
But God is stronger than any serpent—
He can break the teeth of the evil snake. 15
He can loosen the power of any lion.
All the evil ones will surely perish
Like wax melting near a warm fire
Or vanish like water running down
Into deep ground, absorbed by earth. 20
The Lord bends his bow against these enemies,
Who may see the momentary flash of an arrow
But never again the radiance of the sun.
The Creator can destroy malice in a moment.
Before your fruit trees can burst into bloom, 25
Disease will plague their bright petals,
Shrivel their succulence, and shred their roots.
The sinful shall be swallowed up in God’s wrath.
The righteous shall rejoice in the Lord’s justice
When they see how the wicked will utterly perish. 30
They will wash their hands in the treacherous blood
Of unholy heathens, their fierce foes.
They will say in the silent spaces of the heart:
“This is the fruit of the wise and good ones
Who speak the truth and perform righteous works, 35
For God fully judges everyone on earth.”
58
Deliver me, holy God, from the hostility of my enemies,
The oppression of my foes. Release me from the wicked
Who would rise up against me without your aid.
Deliver me from those who do evil against me.
Save me from those who embrace injustice 5
And from all the battle-hungry, bloodthirsty ones,
Those powerful people who are bent on deceit
And struggle against me, oppressing my soul,
Even though I have not embraced iniquity
Or committed crimes against my Lord. 10
Whenever I have sinned, I have repented afterwards
And firmly abstained from repeating such sins.
Rise up to meet me, righteous Lord,
And see for yourself all I have done.
You are the Lord of hosts, God of the Israelites, 15
Their shield and protector in their time of need.
See how swiftly you visit the children of men,
All of the peoples everywhere on earth.
I know you will never show much mercy
To those who are wicked and pursue evil. 20
Your enemies will trail home each evening,
Howling like dogs, suffering from hunger,
Haunting the city walls, prowling in pain.
When they mouth their sweetly deceitful words,
Their devious tongues are like sharp swords. 25
Who knows what they seek in their hidden hearts.
Humiliate them, Lord, and lead them to shame.
Let them vanish in your eyes as if they were nothing.
I entrust my strength to you, O Lord,
For you are my defender, my shield and deliverer. 30
Your mercy and compassion were a gift to me,
A sustaining support when I needed a friend.
Lord, reveal your goodness and grace to me
In the face of my enemies, my untold foes.
Do not put them to death lest they rashly forget 35
The laws you have
made that mankind must follow.
Scatter them everywhere across the earth
By the power of your word. Destroy them all
For the sins of their lips, the malice of their mouths,
The hatred of their hearts. Let them suffer themselves, 40
Trapped in pride, bound in blame.
Let them be tormented by their own devious lies.
Let them be overwhelmed by their own anger
And wander alone with their hearts’ hatred.
Then they will discover that God rules 45
The world of mankind and the borderlands of earth.
Each evening they will come home wildly
Prowling like dogs, roaming the city,
Feeding on hunger. As they search the haunts,
Scattering blindly, ravenous for food, 50
They will finally feast on a fistful of nothing.
Then they will raise up a howling lament.
But I will sing of your strength in my waking song
And celebrate your compassion in my morning prayers,
For you were always my shield and sustainer, 55
My guardian and guide in my days of distress.
You are my aid, my help and my hope
In my time of trial, my hour of need.
I will sing to you, Lord, both now and forever,
For you are my faith and also my fortress, 60
My eternal defender, my soul’s delight,
My source of compassion, almighty God.
59
Lord, you have shattered us, scattered us abroad,
Driven us everywhere into wrack and ruin.
You afflicted us with anger, offering us all
The bitter brew of suffering—and only afterwards
The gift of compassion, the sweet wine of joy. 5
You troubled the earth and made it tremble.
We saw the land quiver, the mountains quake.
Now hear our prayer and heal earth’s ruptures,
Bring back together all that’s been breached.
You sent many signs, ominous warnings— 10
Even if afterwards you offered sweet wine—
That those who fear and revere your power
Should stand watch and protect themselves
Against the bows and arrows of your enemies,
For only your beloved ones would be saved. 15
Deliver me now with your right hand,
Lend me your strength to keep me safe.
Listen to me, Lord. Let me hear your voice
As you graciously say in your earthly sanctuary:
“I will rejoice in the division of Shechem and Convallem 20
The Complete Old English Poems Page 82
