“ Strong is the Ruler and King by right,
mighty over all. The earth and the heavens
He holds and wields as He encircles them about.
Me he wondrously made at the beginning
when at the first he established this universe.
He bade me to live long unsleeping
that I slumber not forever after.
And me suddenly sleep overcomes;⁠10
both my eyes are quickly closed.
All this world the mighty Lord
moves with mastery in all its parts;
so that I at the world of the mighty ruler
all this universe encircle about.
I am so timid that a fleeting phantom
terribly can fill me with fright ”

“ For example, compare the opening lines of the Latin:
The Creator, who established the ages on eternal pillars, the Ruler of kingdoms, who bridles the lightnings by his law, while the heights of the widespreading universe are swaying to and fro into space, formed me in various shapes, when in the beginning he founded the world. (Wyatt’s translation.)
The Anglo-Saxon translator omitted most of the classical allusions, except Vulcan (l. 56) and Zephyrus (l. 68) , but retained the word pernix (Aldhelm l. 35) , which he obviously did not understand. ”