Aldhelm Riddle 59: Penna
ALEXANDRAREIDER
Date: Thu 14 Apr 2022Me dudum genuit candens onocrotalus albam,
Gutture qui patulo sorbet de gurgite limphas.
Pergo per albentes directo tramite campos
Candentique viae vestigia caerula linquo,
Lucida nigratis fuscans anfractibus arva.
Nec satis est unum per campos pandere callem,
Semita quin potius milleno tramite tendit,
Quae non errantes ad caeli culmina vexit.
The bright pelican begot me, white, a short time ago,
(The bird) who drinks waters from the sea with its throat wide open.
I go through whitened fields on a straight path
And leave dark traces on the gleaming road,
Darkening the shining earth with blackened twists and turns.
It is not enough to open one path through the fields,
Rather, the path stretches out in a thousand routes
And takes those who do not err from it to the summits of heaven.
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