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"Hyrule's Lament or Sheik's Song of Sadness"


Hyrule's Lament or Sheik's Song of Sadness

By: January


How deserted lies the city,

Once so full of people!

How like a widow is she,

Who once was great among the nations!

She who was queen among the provinces

Has now become a slave.

Bitterly she weeps at night;

Tears are upon her cheeks.

Among all her lovers

There is none to comfort her.

All her friends have betrayed her;

They have become her enemies.

After affliction and hard labor,

Hyrule has gone into exile.

She dwells among the nations;

She finds no resting-place.

All who pursue her have overtaken her

In the midst of her distress.

The roads to Hyrule mourn,

For no one comes to her appointed feasts.

All her gateways are desolate,

Her priests groan, her maidens grieve,

And she is in bitter anguish.

Her foes have become her masters;

Her enemies are at ease.

The goddess has brought her grief

Because of her many sins.

Her children have gone into exile,

Captive before the foe.

All splendor has departed

From the Daughter of Hyrule.

Her princess is like a deer

That finds no pasture,

In weakness she has fled

Before her pursuer.

In the days of her affliction and wandering,

Hyrule remembers all the treasures that were hers in days of old.

When her people fell into enemy hands,

There was no one to help her.

Her enemies looked at her

And laughed at her destruction.

Hyrule has sinned greatly

And so has become unclean.

All who honored her despise her,

For they have seen her desolation,

She herself groans

And turns away.

Her filthiness clung to her skirts;

She did not consider her future.

Her fall was astounding;

There was none to comfort her.

"Look, o goddess, on my affliction,

For the enemy has triumphed."

The enemy laid hands

On all her treasures;

She saw pagan nations

Enter her sanctuary -

Those you had forbidden

To enter your assembly.

All her people groan

As they search for bread;

They barter their treasure for food

To keep themselves alive.

"Look, o goddess, and consider,

For I am despised.

"Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by?

Look around and see.

Is there any suffering like my suffering

That was inflicted on me,

That the goddess brought on me

In the day of her fierce anger?

"From on high she sent fire,

Sent it down into my bones.

She spread a net for my feet

And turned me back.

She has made me desolate,

Faint all the day long.

"My sins have been bound into a yoke;

By her hands they were woven together.

They have come upon my neck

And the goddess has sapped my strength.

She has handed me over

To those I cannot withstand.

"The goddess has rejected

All the warriors in my midst;

She has summoned an army against me

To crush my young men.

In her winepress the goddess has trampled

The virgin Daughter of Hyrule.

"This is why I weep

And my eyes overflow with tears.

No one is near to comfort me,

No one to restore my spirit.

My children are destitute

Because the enemy has prevailed."

Hyrule stretches out her hands,

But there is no one to comfort her.

The goddess has decreed for her

That her neighbors become her foes;

Hyrule has become

And unclean thing among them.

"The goddess is righteous,

Yet I rebelled against her command.

Listen, all you peoples;

Look upon my suffering.

My young men and maidens

Have gone into exile.

"I called to my allies

But they betrayed me.

My priests and my elders

Perished in the city

While they searced for food

To keep themselves alive.

"See, o goddess, how distressed I am!

I am in torment within,

And in my heart I am disturbed,

For I have been most rebellious.

Outside, the sword bereaves;

Inside, there is only death.

"People have heard my groaning,

But there is no one to comfort me.

All my enemies have heard of my distress;

They rejoice at what you have done.

May you bring the day you have announced

So that they may become like me.

"Let all their wickedness come before you;

Deal with them

As you have dealt with me

Because of all my sins.

My groans are many

And my heart is faint."

How deserted lies the city,

Once so full of people!

How like a widow is she,

Who once was great among the nations!

She who was queen among the provinces

Has now become a slave.