The Poem-book of the Gael/The Saltair na Rann/The Death of Adam
VI. THE DEATH OF ADAM, (xii.)
l. 2021
DAM'S lifetime was not short;that ye may know, without risk (of error),thirty years had he, it was exactly proven,with nine hundred years.[1]
DAM'S lifetime was not short;that ye may know, without risk (of error),thirty years had he, it was exactly proven,with nine hundred years.[1]Then came a complete sickness to Adam,such as comes to everyone,his wife Eve with every goodnesswas receiving his last bequests.
Adam knew his destiny,he spake to splendid Eve:"I have parted from thee and from thy children;of this sickness I die."
"It is hard of God,"said she, said Eve, to Adam,"that thou art not sojourning here, (?)that it is not I who go first.
"My grief! that thou should'st change,"said she, said Eve to Adam;"that I should be here sorrowful without strength,that thou should'st go first."
"O Eve of the pure clear form,understand clearly in thy mind;thou wilt not be any length, it is clear,here in pain after my departure.
"Short was the time, though it be without deception,between thy creation and mine,thou wilt not be in danger of attack,[2] bright is the outlook,but nine months after me."
"Tell me without error, O Husband,what I shall do with thy fair dear body?since thou deemest thy death is certain,my Lord, O Adam!"
"Let not foot or hand touch me,let not any interfere with me,till one is sent from God from heavento arrange my fair dear body.
"Leave my body (fair the fashion),in its bonds without disturbance;I am certain that the noble Artificer who formed mewill provide for the needs of my body.
"Arise, O Eve, cheerfully,and begin a 'cross-vigil';[3]send them from thee, O Wife, to God's right handmy pure soul to holy heaven.
"The soul that God created in me,it is He who recalled it in its uncleanliness;let it go to him perfectly to His dwellingwith the accompanying of angel-hosts.
"O Wife, I am not bold, in truth,concerning the actions of my good King;the wrath that He showed (pure His sway),was an act of affection and mercy."
(Eve kneels and prays to God. A heavenly messenger is sent to her, to tell her that the soul of Adam is parted from the body, and that it is safe in the charge of the hosts of the archangel Michael.)
l. 2105Then Eve wentquickly towards Adam;until she found Adam (great the love)no longer inhaling breath.
When she heard notthe voice of Adam speaking to her with fair beauty,her senses out of measure overpowered her,with long lamentations, with lasting sorrow.
(The heavenly messenger speaks)
"O Eve, lift up thine eyes,and suffer us to instruct thee;set thy keen pure glanceupwards clearly to the heavenly ones.
"O Woman, raise thy pure face,to behold the soul of Adam,as it is uplifted brightlybetween hosts of archangels."
On that Eve turnedto behold the soul of Adam,and she saw the beautiful peaceful soulof Adam in the company of Michael.
While Eve was thusrecognising the soul of Adam,she beheld coming towards it along the wayhosts of angels chorus-singing.
Eve beheld a Seraphmoving nobly in front of the hoston three golden wings;fair was the beloved thing[4] which he bore.
Then Eve beheldthree white shining birds(which) across the sky from holy heavenhad arrived (?) in their lustre.
While she was watching the birds,Eve herself without great trouble,as with a flash of the full sun,she became unable to look at them.
Up unto cloudy heaven was heardthe choir of the holy angels around Michael;they spread their pleasant ranks thencircling about the altar of Adam.
The angels sustained a fitting harmonyround about the altar;before all the host they burned a herbwhich is called "ornamentum."
The strong smoke[5] spreaddirectly through the air;the doors of the firmament openedwithout any force (?)[6]
God came in holiness from heavento the service of Adam's soul;the Soverain King over every spheresat down on His royal throne.
There went before the pure Kinga noble angel of the angels;he sounded melodiously a clear, shrill note,its beautiful report was heard throughout the seven heavens.[7]
Towards the sound of the trumpet, purely splendid,went the host of the nine holy grades;truly strong were their clear numbers,before the royal throne of the Creator!
(The hosts unite in praising the Lord for His mercy to Adam)
l. 2177 Then the King of Wisdom[8]sent from Him quickly a Seraphacross the slopes of the great mass of the hostswith wings of red gold.
Until they took the soul of Adam without pain,so that it was bathedin the unpassable (?) river of the ever-living host[9]"indatinum ciriasu."
So that he brought with him Adam's pure, clear soulthus out of the stream,then he placed himself as at the firstbefore the presence of the Creator.
Then the King laid His hand,without any consuming (?) upon the soul of Adam.He commended it to Michael,fair is the tale!
"Be thou not harsh, O Michael,towards its great bliss,place thou the soul of Adam herein Paradise.
"Bear the bright pure soulof splendid Adam with his accompanying bands,place it . . . . . . in the third kingly division of Paradise."
"'In the third heaven,' said God,'which is called Ficconicia;let it be there without sign of paintill the time of the Resurrection.'"
All the grades in every sphereboth of angels and archangels,sweet was their pure choruspraising the Creator;
For the remission to the soul of Adamfrom its sins, from its vices;that it should be broughtagain to Paradise.
Let the oil of mercyand the herb "ornamentum" be bestowedabout the body of Adamto cleanse it from its vileness.
Around the body of Adamlet three wholesome linen cloths, of special honour, be arranged;and let it be buried exactlyat the side of Abel's sepulchre.
The body of our fore-father Adam,according to writings of manifold genius,from afar, under the heavy, sorrowful bonds of death,was buried in Hebron.
It was there under a strong, firm tower[10]till the coming of the wave-strength of the flood,the body of Adam, with honours in its sepulchre,under assemblies of the strong.
The flood of the deluge over every land,many countries did it upturn,it carried his head from Adamand brought it to Jerusalem.
There the head remainedbefore Jerusalem;[11]without grief the cross of Christ afterwardswas planted in the flesh[12] of Adam.
l. 2385High King of the Sun, clearly hath it been heard,He it was who created Paradise;He who is better than all kings, royal His form,there is no limit to His existence.
- ↑ i.e. 930 years; see Gen. v. 3.
- ↑ Fo grís means "under attack" or "under warmth," "ardour," "heat"; could it mean "under the warmth of the sun," i.e. "alive"?
- ↑ A cross-vigil was a prayer uttered with the arms extended in the form of a cross, or sometimes with the body flat on the ground in the same position; such prayers were common in the ancient Irish Church.
- ↑ "Pet," or "champion.
- ↑ Or "incense."
- ↑ Without guardians or keepers?
- ↑ See p. 18. God is frequently called the "King of the Seven Heavens," cf. p. 120.
- ↑ Or "King of Victories."
- ↑ In the Vision of Adamnan the river is of fire. In Dante's Purgatorio (Canto xxxi.) the soul is bathed in the river of Lethe.
- ↑ Tromthur, in l. 906 of the poem, seems to refer to waves.
- ↑ Lit. "before the gate of Jerusalem," but see Rev. Celt., vi. p. 104.
- ↑ i.e. in his skull: this is a curious tradition.