Solution

Riddle

	At times I resort,	beyond man's discerning,

	Under surging billows	to seek the bottom,

	The ocean depths.	Then the sea is shaken,

	Convulsed with foam,	and the whale-flood rages

5	In giant uproar.	The ocean streams

	Beat on the shore	and batter the slopes

	With rock and sand,	with seaweed and wave.

	As I struggle and strain	in the ocean depths

	I shake the land	and the vast sea-bottom.

10	From my watery covering	   I cannot forth

	Till he grant me freedom	who guides my way

	On every journey.	O wise of wit,

	Tell who can draw me	from ocean depths

	When the seas grow still	and the waves are calm

15	Which formerly covered	  and cloaked me over.




Translated by Charles W. Kennedy (The Earliest English Poetry. London-New York 1943).