Would you search for a vein of red gold
In the green treetops instead of the ground 5
Or gather gems like grapes in the vineyard?
Would you set your salmon nets on a hillside
Instead of the sea? Everyone knows
That silver-scaled fish don’t swim in the air.
Would you hunt for the forest hart and hind 10
From a sailing ship, driving your dogs
Into the salt-sea? A wise man knows
That you seek gems at the ocean’s edge
Or the river’s banks—there you might find
Red and blue jewels, stones of every hue. 15
Every humble man knows where to cast a net
Or drop a line in the water for a fish dinner.
Men commonly seek such earthly goods,
Such worldly treasures, but what will become
Of grapes and gold, salmon and silver 20
In the long run? They come from earth
And return to earth, taken back in time.
Wise men know this eternal truth,
But fools cannot see beyond their dreams
To the deeper treasures that transcend time 25
Or discover in their hearts the sacred place
Where the only true happiness is hidden.
It never occurs to them to search
For the sacred joys that satisfy the soul
And sustain the heart. Fools look for felicity 30
In the pleasures of the moment, the power of a realm,
The richness of a hoard, the health of the body,
The firmness of fate, their faith in the future.
It’s hard to imagine their endless idiocy
Or to readily explain such unexamined ideas. 35
These follies pass even the power of words.
These unwise men seek wealth and honor,
Possessions and power. When the fools obtain
What they think they want, they begin to imagine
In ignorance or indifference that they’ve finally found 40
True happiness instead of a worthless treasure.”
[Wisdom engages Boethius or his mind in a discussion of the five worldly goods—abundance (or sufficiency), power, honor, fame, and happiness—which he explains are mere aspects of the eternal good that is God. People pursue these lesser goods through earthly strivings instead of seeing them as reflections or shadows of the greatest good. Wisdom urges Boethius to turn his mind from false felicities to true happiness and the greatest good, which contains all the lesser goods. Boethius asks how he may find this highest good, and Wisdom tells him to do this through prayer to the Father of creation. Wisdom then shows Boethius how to pray:]
20
“Almighty God, high-minded, glorious,
Holy and eminent, a wonder to the wise,
Shaper and Sustainer of all creation,
Maker of all things seen and unseen—
You rule the universe with a mighty mind, 5
Skillful strength, and eternal insight,
Fostering all forms, generating all joys.
In the beginning you made the seasons
That follow forever in endless succession—
Spring, summer, autumn, winter. 10
Each one before and after another,
Each one disappearing and returning again.
You are the mover who remains unmoved,
The radiant center of revolving creation,
The steady heart in the pulse of time. 15
No earthly good approaches your glory,
Though you never had any need for fame.
You were always eternal and sufficient.
Through your infinite will, you created the world
Out of endless energy and abiding love. 20
Your goodness encompasses everything that is,
From the miracle of man to the wonder of nature.
All goodness abides only in you; all holiness rests
In your shaping spirit. You craft and contain us,
Guide and restrain us. Every earthly good 25
Comes to us from without, from you, O God.
You know no envy of anything on earth
Because nothing surpasses you in goodness,
Nothing is more powerful, more perfect.
You planned all good things in your infinite mind— 30
All of creation was born in your conception.
Before you, Lord, there was no living creature
Who could make either anything or nothing,
But almighty God, the wonder is this—
You made everything without any template. 35
You created the world according to your wish,
You control everything according to your will.
You are the one who hands out to the world
Every offering, every opportunity, every good.
Every living creature that exists on earth 40
Once walked in the wake of your imagination.
Every tree once bloomed in your divine dreams,
Every ocean rolled through your waves of thought,
Every star was brightened by your mind’s light,
Every moment was nascent in your endless knowing. 45
In your unfathomed heart is the holy hymn
That is making the moment-by-moment world.
You have made us each in some ways alike
From walking to wailing, birth to death—
In some ways unlike, from man to woman, 50
From fish to fowl, from bird to beast.
We are all created and known in your name,
One world under the clouds of heaven.
Oh God of glory, Father of all forms,
You separated creation into four elements, 55
A wonder of earth, air, fire, and water.
Each has its own birthplace and station,
Its own boundaries, yet each can flow
Into the other by your eternal command.
Fire rises into air, air breathes in water, 60
Water puts out fire, fire feeds on earth.
Water and earth together grow fruit.
The river runs wet from hill to plain.
The earth is cold, though often green.
The air is a mighty mixture in the middle, 65
Between earth and sky, sea and sun.
It is dry and wet, warm and cold,
Depending on the season, the wind and weather,
The sun and storm. Air also mingles
Fire and earth when lightning strikes 70
And trees burst into flame, blazing in air.
Many men know that fire is the highest—
It always rises—and earth is the lowest,
The deepest down beneath the surface.
It is a miracle of your making, almighty Lord, 75
That you set up boundaries and breach barriers,
Making us separate and mingling us together.
You support the streams, rivers, and seas
With a cradle of land, a bed for the water,
Which would otherwise run restless and ravenous 80
Over the earth, drowning all life.
Water is a wonder that can’t stand up alone.
The earth absorbs water, gathers it as a gift
To the greening plants and bursting groves.
Fruit and flower, grape and grain, 85
Grow upon earth as a blessing to men.
The earth feeds each root a delicious drink.
Each stem and shoot thanks through its roots
The gift of ground. The fruit grows full
On the wonder of water, sun, and air. 90
Without this miracle, creation would collapse,
The dream of sustenance would turn into dust.
Everything on earth would be borne away
Like ashes that float on the drifting winds.
Nothing would last, no p
resent life, 95
No future to look forward to, no past
To remember and record, no generation or joy.
Nothing alive can thrive without water,
Whose cold is tempered by a deep heat
That makes it palatable, a pleasure to drink. 100
Fire is controlled by you, King of angels,
Who mingled the land and sea, fire and air,
So that creation would not freeze or burn,
The world end in fierce frost or a fiery blaze.
It’s no small miracle, this eternal mingling. 105
The cold creatures of earth and sea
Can never quite extinguish the fierce flames
In their wet holds, their deep hearts.
It’s your subtle skill, Lord, that makes this so.
Water moves from land to sea, from sea to sky, 110
Returning to land in the miracle of rain
And morning dew, sometimes in frost and snow—
It is everywhere in creation from stem to storm.
The Father of angels has bound earthly fire,
So it cannot seek its homeland high under heaven 115
In the ethereal air. Sometimes fire roams
Like a rapacious beast, swallowing the land,
But is kept on a leash by our eternal Lord,
And can only destroy anything on earth
At his command. Of all the elements, 120
Earth is the heaviest, lying undisturbed
For the longest time. It’s the lowest of creatures
Beneath the endlessly revolving firmament,
The bright shell above and around us
That spins each day as the world turns, 125
Always near yet never touching anything on earth.
Each of these elements has its own special home,
Though often they mingle at God’s command.
They are always separate, but never alone.
Only a sage could solve this riddle. 130
Sometimes they’re mixed in miraculous ways.
So earth may rise in a forest fire,
Fire may dance in steaming water
Or sleep in the heat of a sun-baked stone.
The Father of angels has bound the fire, 135
So it cannot easily find its way home,
Where the flame-creatures dwell together
In the ethereal realm. Fire may meet with cold
On its wandering way over heaven’s road,
A curious clash of ice and flame. 140
Yet each thing seeks its family homeland,
The comfort of kin in clashing world.
Oh Lord of hosts, in your wise strength,
You’ve shaped the earth without a tilt,
Without a wobble, so it cannot slide down, 145
At least no more than it’s ever done.
Nothing cradles this enormous earth
In the infinite air but your unseen hands,
Your heavenly spirit, your infinite power.
The earth in the universe is like an egg 150
Inside its shell. The yolk in the middle
Remains steady while the egg glides about
Like the revolving heavens, the sun and stars.
So the egg-like world of earth and air
Stays still while the bright shell 155
Circles each day as it’s always done.
Oh God of hosts, you set in each of us
A sacred gift, a threefold soul,
That imbues our bodies from head to toe,
No less in a finger than in the whole 160
Walking, worrying, willful wonder of us.
Sages and philosophers say that this soul
Is always found with three faculties.
The first is anger or ill-temper,
Which lashes out with claws of wrath. 165
The second faculty is willful desire,
Which always yearns for what it wants.
The third and finest faculty is reason,
Which debates, discusses, measures, molds,
Makes distinctions, and weighs choices. 170
No right thinker is ashamed of reason
Because it makes us more than animals,
Rational beings with reflective minds.
Reason should always rightly rule
Both anger and desire in the mind of man. 175
Reason is the mind’s force, the soul’s strength.
Lord of victories, you created the soul
To reflect on itself, to rotate around
The ideas of the mind just as the firmament circles
The earth each day by your divine power. 180
So a man’s soul circles about itself,
Pondering the world of wonderful things,
Ideas and images, desires and dreams,
Debating them all, crafting conclusions.
Sometimes the soul examines itself, 185
Sometimes it meditates upon the mind,
Sometimes it contemplates its eternal Creator.
It travels like a wheel, turning about itself,
Rolling about its own still center.
When it considers its nature, it lives and thrives 190
Within itself. When it contemplates God,
It gathers some greatness beyond itself,
Like holiness hovering over its own heart.
It loses itself when it loves earthly things
Above the glory of eternal salvation. 195
Almighty God, you have given the soul
A homeland in heaven, a goal to be won,
A grace attained, to each according to its good,
The merit of its thoughts, its words and works.
All souls are rich but not equally radiant, 200
Just as all stars are not equally bright.
Lord of all living creatures, in your wisdom,
You have mixed earthly and heavenly elements
In each of us here, bringing the soul and body
Together to travel the long road of life. 205
One lives in the other, the soul in the body,
The breath of God in its home of flesh.
They strive with all their strength to return
Home to their Maker on the last road—
But the body must stay where it was made, 210
Miraculous living dust made by the Lord.
It rose from the ground and returns to the grave.
Body and soul will remain bound together
As long as they’re able, according to the will
Of their mighty Maker, the Lord of life. 215
Our Savior created this wondrous world
And filled it with many sorts of creatures,
As I’ve heard. He made a multitude of animals
From beasts of the field to fierce forest hunters.
He sowed the seeds for grain and grove, 220
Shade and sustenance. Almighty God,
Grant us the power to lift up our hearts
And raise up our minds to you, our Maker.
Let our thoughts rise up from this troubled world,
From suffering and sorrow, agony and affliction, 225
Through the strength of your eternal, abiding spirit,
To the highest goodness gathered together
In our mighty Creator and merciful God.
Give us the eyes to see and the minds to know
Your perfect wisdom, your power and grace. 230
Remove the haze from our earthly eyes,
The mist from our minds, so that we can see
The clarity of creation, the light of your love.
You are the brightness in every blessing,
The truth in everything trusted by man, 235
The only eternal and matchless mercy
That exists in creation—from the cradle of beginning,
To the bed-rest beyond—the shaper and sustainer
Of the s
oul’s yearning, the heart’s homeland.
Your mind holds the reason and radiance 240
Of all eternity, of the world beyond time,
You are the way of creation’s waking
And winding to heaven. You are the guide
And guardian of our going toward glory,
Our heading home to a place of peace, 245
A restful embrace in your radiant arms.”
[Wisdom argues that there are greater and lesser goods just as there are greater and lesser forms of happiness or felicity. The greatest good and the only true happiness resides in God. People know through the use of reason that lesser goods lack something which is fully and perfectly contained in the greatest good. God is both the source and the perfect embodiment of all goods. People should seek the perfect good, the true happiness of, and with, God, but sometimes they seek lesser goods. Wisdom follows with this poetic advice to Boethius:]
21
“Let the children of men throughout middle-earth
Strive for the goodness we are talking about,
The highest happiness, the eternal truth.
Let the man bound to the wheel of this world,
The man who loves only earthly goods, 5
Who seeks happiness in fame and glory,
Find the freedom to break his bonds
And seek pure joy in the soul’s salvation.
Heaven is the place the heart longs for,
A secure port for the ship of the mind 10
That is buffeted by storms on the sea of life,
The turbulent waves of this unsteady world.
God’s divine harbor is the only safe haven
From the storm and strife for the seafaring soul.
Heaven is our home, our place of refuge, 15
A haven of true happiness for the wretched.
I know for certain that no earthly hoard
Of gold and silver, jewels and gems,
Will ever illuminate the eyes of the mind,
The sight of the soul, or improve our vision 20
Of the greatest good that emanates from God.
The wealth of the world can only blind
The eyes of the mind and bind the heart
To an earthly good that is wholly lacking
In what the soul seeks—that pure perfection, 25
The eternal goodness of almighty God.
All earthly treasure is touched by time—
Its radiance will tarnish and turn to rust,
And the hand that bears the gift of gold
Will shrivel, die, and turn into dust. 30
The brightest beauty inheres in God.
It blazes forth its earthly beauty
From seed to shoot, bud to bloom.
The Lord does not want our souls to perish—
He wishes for each human spirit to soar, 35
To strive for goodness, thrive in virtue,
The Complete Old English Poems Page 100
