Page:The poem-book of the Gael - Hull.djvu/87

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THE DEATH OF ADAM
45
"Arise, O Eve, cheerfully,and begin a 'cross-vigil';[1]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.
  1. ↑ 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.
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