Solstice - Song of Amergin

Poem of Amergin, Celtic Ireland’s first poet-judge, sacrificing first Monarch and brother of self-sacrificing Donn (who features in much in my work) put to music and video by Arnold Hensman. Reading by Daniella Hensman. Filmed at Newgrange, Ireland. Music: Walking on Clouds, by Tea Time, (ShutterStock Music).This poem by Amergin, preserved in the Book of Leinster and the Book of the Taking of Ireland, is an example in the Indo-European tradition of candid almost proud words put into the mouths of Gods.I am a wind in the sea (for depth)I am a sea-wave upon the land (for heaviness)I am the sound of the sea (for fearsomeness)I am a stag of seven combats (for strength)I am a hawk upon a cliff (for agility)I am a tear-drop of the sun (for purity)I am fair (i.e. there is no plant fairer than I)I am a boar for valour (for harshness)I am a salmon in a pool (for swiftness)I am a lake in a plain (for size)I am the excellence of arts (for beauty)I am a spear that wages battle with plunder.I am a god who forms subjects for a ruler!Who explains the stones of the mountains?Who invokes the ages of the moon?Where lies the setting of the sun?Who bears cattle from the house of Tethra?Who are the cattle of Tethra who laugh?What man, what god forms weapons?Indeed, then;I invoked a satirist…a satirist of wind.[John Carey’s translation of Song of Amergin: from The Celtic Heroic Age (2003) (pg. 265)]. Get full access to Power of Mana at www.powerofmana.net/subscribe