Transcript

Tá cheithre coirnéil ar mo leabaidh,
Tá cheithre ainglí uirthi scarthaí,
Má fhaghaimse bás anocht ná ar maidin
Gur i bhflaithis Dé a bheas m'anam.

Luighimse ar an leaba seo anocht
Mar luigheanns Mac Dé ar an gcrois.
Brat Mhuire na scaball orm.
Mo mhíle mhuirneach thú, mo mhíle grá thú,
Ba tú mo leigheas idir charaid is námhaid.

A Rí na bhfianaisí atá ar an gcrois
(...) (ar mhaighean) na míltí loit
Is námhaid anama agus choirp,
Is bí mar sin, a Thiarna. Áiméan.

Is bheirim mo bheannacht duit!

Translation

There are four corners on my bed,
There are four angels spread over it,
If I die tonight or in the morning
May my soul be in God's heavens.

I lie on this bed tonight
As the Son of God lies on the cross.
The mantle of Mary of the scapular upon me.
You are my beloved, you are my love,
You were my healing between friend and foe.

Oh King of truth who is on the cross
(...) in the place (?) of the thousand wounds
Agus the enemy of the soul and body,
And be thus, Lord. Amen.

And I give you my blessing!

Commentary

Other versions of lines 1-4 appear in Douglas Hyde, Abhráin diadha chúige Connacht (2 vols, London, 1906), vol. 2, 216; Seósamh Ó Flannagáin, 'Sean-phaidreacha ó Árainn', Béaloideas 7 (1937), 185-90: 186; Diarmuid Ó Laoghaire, Ár bpaidreacha dúchais (Dublin, 1975), 95, 98; and in the prayer beginning 'Paidrín Pháirteach i dTeampall Dé' recited by Pádraig Ó Meadhra in the Doegen collection. Versions of lines 5-13 appear in Abhráin ciadha chúige Connacht, vol. 2, 204, and Séamus Ó Duilearga, 'Sean-phaidreacha ó Iorrus', Béaloideas 12 (1942), 201-3.