Alas that the evil unrighteous hot will
Of lawlessly wanton desire should still

Be a plague in the mind of each one!
The wild bee shall die in her stinging, tho' shrewd,
So the soul will be lost if the body be lewd,
Unless, ere it wend hence, the heart be imbued
With grief for the deed it hath done.

Will ye seek within the wood

Red gold on the green-trees tall ?
None, I wot, is wise that could,
For it grows not there at all :

Neither in winegardens green
Seek they gems of glittering sheen.

Would ye on some hill-top set,

When ye list to catch a trout
Or a carp, your fishing-net?

Men, methinks, have long found out
That it would be foolish fare,

For they know they are not there.

In the salt sea can ye find,

When ye list to start and hunt
With your hounds, the hart or hind?
It will sooner be your wont

In the woods to look, I wot,
Than in seas where they are not.

Is it wonderful to know

That for crystals red or white
One must to the sea-beach go,
Or for other colours bright,
Seeking by the river side
Or the shore at ebb of tide ?

Likewise, men are well aware
Where to look for river-fish;
And all other worldly ware

Where to seek them when they wish;
Wisely careful men will know
Year by year to find them so.

But of all things 'tis most sad
That they foolish are so blind,
So besotted and so mad

That they cannot surely find

Where the ever-good is nigh
And true pleasures hidden lie.

Therefore, never is their strife
After those true joys to spur ;
In this lean and little life

They half witted deeply err,

Seeking here their bliss to gain,
That is, God Himself, in vain.

Ah! I know not in my thought

How enough to blame their sin,
Nor so clearly as I ought

Can I show their fault within ;

For, more bad and vain are they
And more sad than I can say.

All their hope is to acquire

Worship, goods, and worldly weal;
When they have their mind's desire,
Then such witless Joy they feel,
That in folly they believe
Those True joys they then receive.

Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs, of thistles?" Alfred is of the Wise Teacher's school : and bids us seek the chief good beyond this evil world.

XX. OF GOD AND HIS CREATURES.

O qui perpetua mundum ratione gubernas, Terrarum cœlique sator, qui tempus ab ævo

Eala min Drihten !
Thæt thu eart ælmihtig,
Micel modilic,

Mærthum gefraege,
And wundorlic,
Witena gehwylcum!

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