Saturday, July 22, 2017

Poem 149: rursus cum Angilberto apud Fontanetam...

...
Death was turned away from Hlothar
God's right arm protected him
victor thanks to heaven's guidance
he fought with amazing strength
if the rest had fought as he did
terms of truce had soon been sought

Even as when Judas, traitor,
secretly betrayed our lord
even so, o king, your barons
turned upon you with the sword
Be on guard! lest you be taken
as the lamb by savage wolves

Fontenoy is what the locals
call their fountain, and the town,
district where corpse-fest happened
hemorrhage of Frankish blood
meadows shudder, forests shudder
shudder too the very swamps

Grass is not refreshed with showers
nor with morning dew nor rains
there where valiant warriors perished
steeped in battle's scholarship
father, mother, sister, brother
each of dear ones mourns them now

Horrors which were here accomplished
I have told in metrical form
Angilbert by name, both witness
and combatant with the rest
I alone remained of many
out upon the foremost line
...

to be continued








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