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A BANISHED WIFE'S COMPLAINT

in solitude i sing this lonely song
about my fate, and truly can i say
that of the ills encountered in my mouth
ills new old, most grievous far is this
sorrow of endless exile i endure
erstwhile my lord departed from the people
over the billows strife! dawn after dawn

i tossed n anguish, asking myself
"where lies the land to which my lord has gone?"
deeper grew my distress until at length,
a friendless fugitive, i took my way,
troubled beyond relief, to seek for him

the kindred of that man through cunning thought
baseless dissension built betwixt us two
that hatefully divided we should dwell
within the world. woe untold was mine!
must i, wrongly condemned forevermore
endure the hate of him i wholly love?
he ordered me within the forest grove
to dwell in the earth-cave underneath the oak.
ancient this earth-hall is, and, exile here,
a longing unfulfilled consumes my life

dark are the valleys dim and high the hills
bleak are my cavern-walls o'ergrown with moss
abode unblessed! alas, that e'er befell
my lord's far faring: the world holds many friends
living in love, keeping the marriage bed,
while, at day-dawning, all alone i go
in the earth cavern underneath the oak:
i sit there through the lingering summer day

there i beweep my wretched banishment
the many miseries, sorrows of mind,
the yearnings vain this life has yielded me,
haunting desires, from which i may not rest
by my lord's mandate here i make my home

few loving ones i have in this land
few gracious friends, wherefore is my great grief
that him, most fitting of all men for me,
false-hearted i have found and treacherous:
with loving smile devising deadly sin:
often we promised faithfully that love
should last with life. that separation naught
but death alone should bring. how different now!
our friendship is as it had never been.