Cover art by Stephen Reid

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Notes

• Eber Donn is one of the sons of Míl, associated with death and the underworld — the fearsome poetry made for him reflects that darker association.

• “Mó coire coir goiriath” literally means something like “my fitting/proper cauldron of warming” — the word coir carries connotations of rightness and suitability.

• Amargen/Amirgen Glúngel (“White-knee”) is the legendary poet-druid of the Milesian invaders of Ireland, to whom the poem is attributed.

• The three states — nemshós, lethshós, lónshós — mean no knowledge, half-knowledge, and full knowledge, describing how the cauldrons can be empty, half-full, or full depending on a person’s development.

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Translation

My perfect cauldron of warming has been taken by the Gods from the mysterious abyss of the elements; a perfect truth that ennobles from the center of being, that pours forth a terrifying stream of speech.

I am Amirgen White-knee, with pale substance and grey hair, accomplishing my poetic incubation in proper forms, in diverse colors — for the Gods do not grant the same wisdom to everyone: tipped, upright, or inverted — no knowledge, half-knowledge, full knowledge.

For Eber Donn I make fearful poetry of great and terrible multitudes; in softness, in fluency, in harshness, in mastery, in overcoming, in deep silence — this is the path and function spoken of my cauldrons.

Where is the root of poetry in a person; in the body or in the soul? Some say it is in the soul, for the body does nothing without the soul. Some say it is in the body where the arts are learned, passed through the bodies of our ancestors. It is said that this is the truth remaining over the root of poetry, and the wisdom in every person’s ancestry does not come from the northern sky into everyone, but into every other person.

What then is the root of poetry and every other wisdom? Not hard; three cauldrons are born in every person — the cauldron of warming, the cauldron of motion, and the cauldron of wisdom.

The cauldron of warming is born upright in people from the beginning. It distributes wisdom to people in their youth.

The cauldron of motion, however, increases after turning; that is to say it is born tipped on its side, growing within.

The cauldron of wisdom is born on its lips and distributes wisdom in poetry and every other art.

The cauldron of motion then, in all artless people is on its lips. It is side-slanting in people of bardcraft and small poetic talent. It is upright in the greatest of poets, who are great streams of wisdom. Not every poet has it upright, for the cauldron of motion must be turned by sorrow or joy.

Question: How many divisions of sorrow turn the cauldrons of sages? Not hard; four: longing and grief, the sorrows of jealousy, and the discipline of pilgrimage to holy places. These four are endured internally, turning the cauldrons, although the cause is from outside.

There are two divisions of joy that turn the cauldron of wisdom; divine joy and human joy.

There are four divisions of human joy among the wise — sexual intimacy, the joy of health and prosperity after the difficult years of studying poetry, the joy of wisdom after the harmonious creation of poems, and the joy of ecstasy from eating the fair nuts of the nine hazels of the Well of Segais in the Síde realm. They cast themselves in multitudes, like a ram’s fleece upon the ridges of the Boyne, moving upstream swifter than racehorses driven on midsummer’s day every seven years.

The Gods touch people through divine and human joys so that they are able to speak prophetic poems and dispense wisdom and perform miracles, giving wise judgment with precedents, and blessings in answer to every wish. The source of these joys is outside the person and added to their cauldrons to cause them to turn, although the cause of the joy is internal.

I sing of the cauldron of wisdom which bestows the nature of every art, through which treasure increases, which magnifies every artisan, which builds up a person through their gift.

I sing of the cauldron of motion: understanding grace, accumulating wisdom, streaming ecstasy as milk from the breast, it is the tide-water of knowledge, union of sages, stream of splendor, glory of the lowly, mastery of speech, swift intelligence, reddening satire, craftsman of histories, cherishing pupils, looking after binding principles, distinguishing meanings, moving toward music, propagation of wisdom, enriching nobility, ennobling the commonplace, refreshing souls, relating praises, through the working of law, comparing of ranks, pure weighing of nobility, with fair words of the wise, with streams of sages — the noble brew in which is boiled the true root of all knowledge, which bestows according to harmonious principle, which is climbed after diligence, which ecstasy sets in motion, which joy turns, which is revealed through sorrow; it is enduring fire, undiminishing protection. I sing of the cauldron of motion.

The cauldron of motion: bestows, is bestowed, extends, is extended, nourishes, is nourished, magnifies, is magnified, invokes, is invoked, sings, is sung, keeps, is kept, arranges, is arranged, supports, is supported.

Good is the well of poetry, good is the dwelling of speech, good is the union of power and mastery which establishes strength.

It is greater than every domain, it is better than every inheritance, it bears one to knowledge, adventuring away from ignorance.

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