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 a beam of the sun,
I am the fairest of plants,
I am the wild boar in valour,
I am the salmon in the water,
I am a lake in the plain,
I am a world of knowledge,
I am the point of the lance of battle,
I am the God who created the fire in the head.
Who is it who throws light into the meeting on the mountain?
Who announces the ages of the moon?
Who teaches the place where couches the sun?
~ Amairgen
(chief poet of the Milesians,
brother of Evir, Ir, and Eremon, the first Milesian
princes who came to Ireland hundreds of years before Christ)
ed. P. Murray
from Anam Cara, by John O'Donohue
art by Pan Tian Shou