'hwær cwom mearg?' etc - Described by M-R as a 'haunting lament on the transience of earthly things', this passage is perhaps derived from ubi sunt passages in Latin homilies. Hwær cwom is probably the equivalent English idiom; in one psalter, ubi est Deum eorum? is glossed hwær com eower halig God? Compare Vercelli Homily X: Hwær coman middangeardes gestreon? Hwær com worulde wela? Hwær cwom foldan fægernes? Conformity to rhetorical balance explains why the plural gesetu is the subject of a singular verb (cwom).