Beowulf (tr. Seamus Heaney) #Poem

 

Then twelve warriors rode around the tomb,

chieftain's sons, champions in battle,

all of them distraught, chanting in dirges,

mourning his loss as a man and a king.

They extolled his heroic nature and exploits

and gave thanks for his greatness; which was the proper thing,

for a man should praise a prince whom he holds dear

and cherish his memory when that moment comes

when he has to be convoyed to his bodily home.

So the Geat people, his hearth companions,

sorrowed for the lord who had been laid low.

They said that of all the kings upon the earth

he was the man most gracious and fair-minded,

kindest to his people and keenest to win fame.

-Anonymous, tr. Seamus Heaney

That's the closing of Beowulf in Seamus Heaney's translation, lines 3169-3182.

(The picture, though, is the opening, which is what I could easily snag from Wikipedia. Hwæt!)