Elegy Medley (Against Widows / Cares / On Rich and Poor)

The Devils weds a widow Death another's leftovers Better to lie on a willows Rest on alder boughs Then upon a widow's bed On a used woman's pillow Sweeter the side of a fence Then a widow's flank Softer the side of a grove Than a widow's beside is The Devil weds a widow The grave one twice wed A widow's hand is rougher Than a dry spruce bough With which she strikes the playful Grabs the one who laughs A widow has had her games And spent a merry evening Many rocks the rapid has A lot of billows the sea More plentiful are my cares Then cones on a spruce Beard moss on a juniper Gnarls upon a pine bark Knobs upon a fir Husks on a grass-top Boughs on a bad tree. Drag my cares away Carry off my griefs For no horse can draw No iron-shod jerk Without the shaft-bow shaking off The cares of this skinny one The sorrows of this black bird Old folk remember And those today learn How before their time Life was different here: Without the sun people lived Groped about without the moon With candles sowing was done Planting performed with torched. At the time we lived Without the sunshine Who had covered up our sun And who had hidden our moon? Without the moonlight stumbled With our fists fumbled the land With our hands we sought out roads With hands roads, with fingers swamps We could not live without the sun Nor manage without moonlight We could seek out the sun Who spy out the moon? Who else if not God The one son of God?