I was once a young woman,
a glorious warrior, a grey-haired queen.
I soared with birds, stepped on the earth,
swam in the sea—dived under waves,
languid amongst fishes. I had a living spirit.

(siren); Translated from the The Exeter Book of Riddles

Text Authorship:

• by Kevin John William Crossley-Holland (b. 1941), "Riddle 74" [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

• by Nicola LeFanu (b. 1947), "Riddle 74", 1996 [ soprano and recorder ], from A Travelling Spirit, no. 1 [sung text not yet checked]

Researcher for this page: Joost van der Linden [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2026-03-07
Line count: 5
Word count: 34