| Share page | Visit Us On FB |
|
356 THE GOLDEN TREASURY OF |
||
|
|
||
|
MAN OCTIPARTITE
From the Middle Irish
T
HUS sang the sages of the Gael A thousand years ago well-nigh: " Hearken how the Lord on high Wrought man, to breathe and laugh and wail, To hunt and war, to plow and sail, To love and teach, to pray and die! "
Then said the sages of the Gael:
" Of parcels eight was Adam built.
The first was earth, the second sea,
The third and fourth were sun and cloud,
The fifth was wind, the sixth was stone,
The seventh was the Holy Ghost,
The last, the Light which lighteth God."
Then sang the sages of the Gael:
" Man's body, first, was built of earth To lodge a living soul from birth, And earthward home again to go When Time and Death have spoken so. Then of the sea his blood was dight To bound in love and flow in fight. Next, of the sun, to see the skies, His face was framed with shining eyes. From hurrying hosts of cloud was wrought His roaming, rapid-changeful thought. Then of the wind was made his breath To come and go from birth to death. And then of earth-sustaining stone Was built his flesh-upholding bone. |
||
|
|
||