(The Sinner answers)
"I thought I had time before me still,
And space to return beneath Thy shield,
But Death came first, and against my will,
Ere I knew it, to Death I was forced to yield."
To the Trinity's presence the soul must mount,
To the judgment it comes, and its sins it bears,
And nought that it pleads for itself shall count
Save fasting, and giving of alms, and prayers.
If you gave but a glass of the water cold
(The simplest drink on the green earth's sod),
Your reward is before you, a thousand-fold,
If the thing has been done for the sake of God.
Three things there be, the reward of man
For offending God—'tis a risk to run—
Misfortune's fall, and a shortened span,
And the pains of hell when all is done.
Douglas Hyde.
[CHARM AGAINST ENEMIES]
Three things are of the Evil One—
An evil eye,
An evil tongue,
An evil mind;
Three things are of God, and these three are what Mary
told to her Son, for she heard them in heaven—
The merciful word,
The singing word,
And the good word.
May the power of these three holy things be on all the
men and women of Erin for evermore.