Page:King Alfred's Version of the Consolations of Boethius.djvu/286

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XXIV

I have feather-wings fleeter than a bird's,

With which I may fly far from the earth

Over the high roof of the heaven above us;

But oh! that I might your mind furnish,

Your inmost wit, with these my wings,

Until you might on this world of mortals,

On all that there lives, look down easily!

Then you might mount on pinions

Straight over heaven, soaring upwards

Wind through the clouds, and then witness

All from above. You could also fly

Over the fire that long has fared,

Many a year, mid air and heaven,

Even as the Father at first appointed.

Then could you after the course follow

That the sun takes between the lights of heaven,

And onward speeding reach the sphere

Far up aloft; then in order

That star all cold, alone in station,

Which is the highest of heavenly bodies,

By sea-dwellers beneath the sky

Saturn called; cold is that star,

Wholly ice-bound, and highest wanders

Over all others up in heaven.

Yes, even then, when you have passed

High over Saturn, you may still journey,

And then will soon be above the sphere