Monday, April 6, 2009

BOOK OF INVASIONS - Ireland



The Mystery

This poem is ascribed to Amergin, a Milesian prince or druid who settled in Ireland hundreds of years before Christ and is from the Leabhar Gabhala, or Book of Invasions. The poem is translated by Douglas Hyde.
I am the wind which breathes upon the sea,
I am the wave of the ocean,
I am the murmur of the billows,
I am the ox of the seven combats,
I am the vulture upon the rocks,
I am the beam of the sun,
I am the fairest of plants,
I am the wild boar in valour,

I am a salmon in the water,
I am a lake in the plain,
I am a word of science,
I am the point of the lance of battle,
I am the God who created in the head the fire.
Who is it who throws light into the meeting on the mountain?
Who announces the ages of the moon?
Who teaches the place where couches the sun?

(If not I)
Irish tradition has them as being the first verses made in Ireland. ( Douglas Hyde, The Story of Early Gaelic Literature)

photo 2008: gb