“The Ruins of Time”: A Modern English Translation by Richard Fahey
Wondrous are these wall-stones,
broken by fortune, the citadels crumbled,
the work of giants ruined.
The roofs are collapsed,
the towers tumbled, the pillars bereft.
Ice on the arch scarred the storm-wall,
old, eroded, weathered and worn.
The earth’s grasp keeps the master artisans,
deceased and decayed
in the firm grip of the ground,
until a hundred generations of human peoples have departed.
Often this wall, lichen-grey and rust-coated,
endured one regime after another,
withstood under storms,
steep and curved—it fell.
… Yet it wanes… hewn…
fell on… grimly ground down…
shone… the well-crafted ancient-work…
mud-covered and bowed…
the mind… swiftly bent,
bedecked with rings,
,bound with strongpurpose
wall-stones wondrously wired together.
Bright were the city-halls,
the many bath-houses,
the high horned-adornments,
the great sound of war,
the many mead-halls full of human-pleasures,
until fortune changed that dramatically.
Slaughter destroyed far and wide,
the days of woe came,
death seizes all of those brave men,
their fortification became deserted places,
their strongholds crumbled,
those troops who would should have repair them were dead in the ground.
Therefore these houses have decayed,
and this gabbled structure sheds its tiles,
the roof of ringed-wood.
This place has fallen into ruin with broken buildings.
Once there were many men,
glad-minded and gold-bright, adorned with splendor,
proud and wine-drunk, shown in their battle-armor.
One could gaze on the treasure,
on silver, on carved jewels,
on wealth, on possession,
on precious stones,
on this bright city in a broad kingdom.
Stone-houses stand,
the hot streams whirl in a wide welling,
the wall contains all in its bright bosom,
where the baths were, hot in its core.
That was pleasant.
Let then pour fourth…
over grey stone, hot streams…
hot ring-pool…
where the baths were….
then is…
That is a kingly thing…
house…
city….