"The Mystery"

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 a 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 of the Fire.

Who is it that 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)

 

~ Amergin*

Translation by Douglas Hyde

~ Beannaichte'

26 September, 2019

* Amergin was a Milesian prince or druid who settled in Ireland hundreds of years before Christ

and is from the Leabhar Gubhala or ' Book of Invasions'.  He is considered one of Ireland 's earliest poets, 

and 'The Mystery ' is attributed as the first Irish poem.