(This was written around 975 A.D. by an Anglo-Saxon of unknown identity. This is only the last stanza.)
We all fear God. He turns the Earth.
He set it swinging firmly in space,
Gave life to the world and light to the sky.
Death leaps at the fools who forget their God.
He who lives humbly has angels from Heaven
To carry him courage and strength and belief.
A man must conquer pride, not kill it,
Be firm with his fellows, chaste for himself,
Treat all the world as the world deserves,
With love or with hate but never with harm,
Though an enemy seek to scorch him in Hell
Or set the flames of a funeral pyre under his lord.
Fate is stronger and God mightier than any man's mind.
Our thoughts should turn to where our home is,
Consider the ways of coming there,
Then strive for sure permission for us
To rise to that eternal joy,
That life born in the love of God
And the hope of Heaven.
Praise the Holy Grace of Him who honoured us,
Eternal, unchanging Creator of Earth,
Amen.
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