...
Then the wounds are deeper in his heart, sore for want of his dear one. His sorrow renews as the memory of his kinsmen moves through his mind...
Therefore I cannot think why the thoughts of my heart should not grow dark when I consider all the life of men through this world - with what terrible swiftness they forgo the hall-floor, bold young retainers. So this middle-earth each day fails and falls.
...
Here wealth is fleeting, here friend is fleeting, here man is fleeting, here woman is fleeting - all this earthly habitation shall be emptied."
-From the Exeter Book, 975 A.D.