Aldhelm Riddle 22: Acalantida

ALEXANDRAREIDER

Date: Sat 12 Mar 2022
Original text:

Vox mea diversis variatur pulcra figuris,
Raucisonis numquam modulabor carmina rostris; 
Spurca colore tamen, sed non sum spreta canendo:
Sic non cesso canens fato terrente futuro;
Nam me bruma fugat, sed mox aestate redibo.

Translation:

My beautiful voice is transformed through different arrangements,
I shall never sing my songs with a hoarse-sounding beak;
Though dusky in colour, I am not contemptible while singing:
Thus I do not stop singing in fear of a future fate:
For winter drives me out, but I will return immediately in summer.

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Nightingale


Notes:

This edition is based on Rudolf Ehwald, ed. Aldhelmi Opera Omnia. Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Auctores Antiquissimi, 15. Berlin: Weidmann, 1919, pages 59-150. Available online here.



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