Transcript

An eiséirí is binne dá gcuala mé ag goil (fríd trí) Leabhar na nGeall,
Íosa Críosta a chuaigh 'un céasaidh agus a chuaigh (anseo) leis an chrann,
Tháinig sé 'na (caoineach) agus (Dé hAoine) ag caitheamh comaoineach,
Mac na hÓighe (féine), Mac an (Aoire) Ghil,
Cros dhearg ina dhorna lán de chruach agus de thairní.
(Chuala Rí mo Thiarna a d'fhuiling í go broinn), eadrainn agus (...),
Leis sin féin, tháinig an duine dall agus chaith sé an sleagh go fíorcham.
"Ó, a ghrá Dia," arsa Muire leis an (díomhaoin),
"Is fearr duit an bhráillín bhán a chur ar neamh,
I bhfeic na (sluaighte) agus na slóite.

Translation

The sweetest resurrection I heard of from the Book of Promises,
Jesus Christ who was crucified and who came here(?) with the cross,
He arrived lamenting(?) and on Friday(?) taking communion,
The Son of the Virgin herself(?), the Son of the Bright Shepherd(?),
A red cross in his fist full of steel and nails.
I heard the King of my Lord who endured it to his bosom, between us and (...),
With that, the blind man came and thrust the spear crookedly.
"Oh, for the love of God," said Mary to the idle one(?),
"You had better cast the white sheet over him(?),
Witnessed by the crowds(?) and the hordes.

Commentary

Other versions of this prayer collected in Ulster, Connacht and Munster may be examined in the National Folklore Collection, UCD. A number of versions and further references appear also in Angela Partridge, Caoineadh na dtrí Muire (Dublin, 1983), 278-83, where she uses the title 'An Aiséirí Bheag'. A similar prayer, beginning 'In Aisling agus binne dár chualaidh inne', which seems to have been traditionally chanted by keening women in Omeath, appears in Pádraigín Ní Uallacháin, A hidden Ulster (Dublin, 2003), 141.

This item is transcribed also in Róise Ní Bhaoill, Ulster Gaelic voices: bailiúchán Doegen 1931 (Belfast, 2010), 278.