Aldhelm Riddle 22: Acalantida
ALEXANDRAREIDER
Date: Sat 12 Mar 2022Original 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.
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.
Tags: riddles latin Aldhelm