Soul and Body I
Listen! --since it falls to every one
to consider for
himself his soul’s journey,
how it will be a
deep (thing) when death comes,
(when he) cuts apart
those friends who before were close:
5 body and soul! For a long time
afterwards it will be
that the spirit (must) accept from
God himself
whatever punishment or glory,
exactly whatever (his) earth-vessel (i.e., body)
earlier earned for him in the world
before.
The spirit must come, clamoring in its troubles:
10 every seven nights, the soul (must) find
the body which she wore a long time
before
--(must seek it out) for three
hundred winters, unless the Nation-King,
almighty God, wishes to work the end
of the world before that time, the
Lord of hosts.
15
Then the soul cries out so care-worn
with a cold voice, speaks grimly to the
dust:
“Oh, dust! you dreary (thing), why did
you destroy me,
(you) shit of the earth, all
shriveled up,
the (very) image of dirt? You cared
little
20 about what would happen to the fate of
your soul
after it was led out of the body!
Oh, acknowledge me, you miserable
(thing)! Oh, meat for worms,
you considered little when you,
filthy (thing), succumbed
to every pleasure-trap! (Think) how you
will be
25 food for worms in the earth! Oh, formerly,
in the world,
you thought little how long this
will last here!
Oh, by an angel from the sky above,
alas,
the almighty Measurer sent on your
soul
by his very own hand, in his
power-glory
30 (He) redeemed you with (His) holy blood,
and you, you bound me with hard hunger
and shackled me in hell’s torments.
I lived inside you: caged in
flesh,
I could not come out of you, and
your crime-pleasures
35 crushed me. It seemed to me very often
that it would be three thousand
winters
until your death-day. I constantly
waited for our divorce??
in misery. Ah, the result now is not
too good!
You were pompous in your food and full of wine,
40 strutted, quite glorious, while I was
(terribly) thirsty for
God’s body, for a drink of the
spirit.
So, you never reflected here in
life,
in your corporality and crime-pleasures,
after I was forced to live with you
in the world,
45 that you could be powerfully increased
and strengthened by me,
and (that) I was a spirit in you,
sent from God.
You never rescued me from hell’s so
cruel
tortures because of your desire for
pleasures.
You must suffer shamefully for my
salvation
50 on the great day when the only-begotten
(Son)
will gather all of mankind—everyone.
You are no more attractive to any of
the living,
as a companion for men, or for
mother or father
nor any family member, than a black
raven,
55 after I, alone, journeyed out of you,
by the very hand of Him by whom I
was sent on before.
Burnished equipment cannot be borne
away from here with you,
nor gold or silver, nor any of your goods,
* nor your bride’s ring nor your burg-riches
(lit., hall-wealth),
60 nor any of those goods which you once gained,
but your stripped bones must remain
behind here,
torn from their sinews, and your
soul must
often seek you out against my will,
whip you with words, for such things
as you did to me.
65
You are now dumb and deaf, nor do your delights persist at all.
By necessity, I must seek you out
nevertheless at night,
saddened by (your) sins, and slip
away from you
suddenly at cock-crow, when holy men
perform praise-songs to the living
God,
70 (I must) seek out the residence, the
savage living-place
to which you have condemned me here,
and you--many turf-worms here will chew on you,
black creatures (will) slit you brutally,
gorging and greedy. Your possessions
do not at all remain,
75 those (things) that you displayed to
people on earth.
Thus, it would have been much, much
better for you
when earth’s riches were (granted)
to you
—unless you had donated them to the
Lord himself—
if you had been in the beginning (born)
a bird or a fish in the sea,
80 or livestock on the earth, provided with
fodder,
a field-grazing cow without
consciousness,
or the worst of wild animals in the
wasteland,
and even (better) to have been a
species of snake,
85 the grimmest, if God would have wanted
it,
than (that) you ever became a man on
this earth
* or ever should have received baptism.
You must then be present for both of us two
on the great day, when (all) wounds
will be
90 uncovered to men, those which the sinful
committed
before in the world, long ago.
Then the Lord himself will hear
every single
crime of men, Creator of the
heavens,
from the voice in the mouth of each
and every man:
95 penance (lit., repayment) for (each)
wound. But what will you say there
to the Lord on Doomsday?
There will be then no member too tiny
knitted into (your) limbs
that you will not be forced to repay
what is right
for each and every (one) separately,
then the Lord in judgment
100 will be brutal. But will we do?
We must then, together again,
experience afterwards
such miseries as you meted out to us
here before (on earth).”
Thus (she) reviles that flesh-hoard, must then wander away,
to seek out hell-bottom, not at all
heaven-joys,
105 damned by deeds. The dust lies where it
was,
nor can it articulate any answer for
itself
to the sad spirit, (any) support or
comfort.
(Its) head is split open, hands
dismembered,
jaws gaping, gums slashed apart,
110 sinews are sucked out, the neck gnawed,
fingers pulverized.
Cruel worms rifle the ribs,
their tongues tugged away in ten
directions,
quite a treat for the hungry (ones)[1];
for that reason they cannot trade
115 witty (lit., insulting) words with the
weary guest.
This worm is called “Gifer”
(gluttonous) whose claws are
sharper than needles. He has so arranged it
in that earth-pit (i.e., grave) that
first of all
he will tear apart the tongue, smash
through the teeth,
120 and eat through the eyes above on the head
and make way to other delicacies,
as food for the worms, when that
weary
body has been chilled which he once,
a long time before
dressed with clothes. It is then the
worms’ hors d’oevre,
125 a meal in the earth. May that be
in each man’s memory, every (one) of
the mind-wise!
But it is (much) happier when a holy soul
fares to its flesh, wrapped in
consolation.
That errand is found to be
more blissful in the bosom.
I struggled with many of these lines: please let me know if you think any in particular work well or badly, so I can fiddle with them.
ReplyDelete