Alice Myrtle Ashley Jones, 1916-2006

[llama_nom]

Arthur Jones wrote to me yesterday to tell me that his mother passed
away peacefully the previous night, aged nearly 90.  He also sent me
this poem which he wrote for her, with a request that I turn it into
Gothic.  Whether I've managed to wrangle any of Arthur's inspired
wordplay into my favourite extinct language, I don't know; but here's
my clumsy attempt for what it's worth, followed by the original in all
its eloquence.

Araaiþei aflaiþ.
Uz-u-staig afþliugandei,
þau ga-u-dauf, weggins falþanans,
   hairto swaibjandei,
ni mag witan.
Iþ þata ik sahv:
faurþizei usliþi, si
in hrigga gawandida sik, jah insahv aftra, jah smarkoda;
jah þamma minnizo ni muna taujan.

The eagle-mother is gone.
Whether she soared away,
Or folded wings in plunge
     heart-stopping,
I cannot know.
But this I saw:
Before she left, she
Gyred, and turned, and smiled;
And I shall not do less.

Notes: the reconstructed words are all based on Old English roots,
except for *swaibjan, a causative for 'sweiban', and *weggs, mi "wing"
(=ON vængr).





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