Corpus of Electronic Texts Edition

Anglo-Irish poems of the Middle Ages (Author: [unknown])

Poem 6

Fifteen Signs Before Judgment

1] May the grace of Jesus full of power, through the prayer of Our Blessed Lady, alight among us now, and always guard and save us.
5] Man and woman, you ought to take notice of how this world's ending shall be, the wonders that will come before the Judgment that young and old will see.
9] The fifteen signs I shall tell you, as Isaiah teaches us. The Holy Spirit taught him very well, and he preached it as a prophecy.
13] It is written in the Holy Book, as learned men may see and read, that no man can behold anything that is so terrible to fear.
17] There is no sinful man alive - if he would take heed of it and he would think about it - who would not lament grievously in his heart.
21] Good men, take no heed of signs that come in advance. The children in the mother's womb shall doubt and fear verysorrowfully on that account.
25] Within the mother's womb they shall call upon Jesus Christ always crying: ‘Lord Christ, guide our resolve and have mercy upon us!’
29] ‘Lord, we wish that we had never come into the world and were not begotten by our father, because all things shall now suffer harm’.
33] The first sign shall be as follows, in truth we shall all see it, and the second shall be worse, in truth you may believe me utterly.
37] The stars so bright that you see, that are established so firmly in heaven above, shall give no light because of man's sin, but shall be thrown down to earth.
41] Beautiful and bright though you see them, they will become as black as coal and be dark and dusky of hue. They shall suffer because of man's sin.
45] There is no man alive so steadfast, who shall not shudder with fear because of this; he will not be able to hide himself in any way nor flee anywhere.
49] But, like beasts that were mad, running here and there against each other therefore, they shall not know any good. They shall stay away from neither sea nor land.
53] Then the dead shall rise up to sit upon their tombs. They shall shudder with fear that same day, and look like animals who know no reason.
57] Then the third day in the morning it shall be terrible to see, a day of much weeping and of sorrow, as we find in the Holy Book.
61] That same day you will see that the sun's light, that shines now so brightly, shall be very colourless and dark, and that shall be so for certain.
65] About the time of mid-day it will be as black as coal. We may say ‘alas!’ Great is the torment that we will suffer.
69] On the fourth day that same sun will be as red as it were fire, for fear of judgment that it should come before Jesus, the great Lord.
73] The fifth sign will occur so that every kind of beast shall tremble before it along with the rest, while that same day shall last.
77] They shall look towards heaven to beg mercy of Jesus Christ with their mind and their thought, although they may not speak at all.
81] Alas, Lord, what shall we receive, we who have committed sin? Night and day we ought to tremble terribly when we should think of it in our minds.
85] I do not leave out the sixth day, when these mountains and these hills will all be brought low, truly, to fill these deep valleys.
89] There is no castle nor tower made of lime and stone that ever was or shall be that shall not fall down;
93] Nor any tree so firm in the earth, so firmly driven in with all its roots that will not crash down on that same day, before it is night.
97] On the seventh day they will grow again, their growth down, their roots on high. We shall see such wonders, on account of the anger of God who sits on high.
101] The trees shall bleed - a marvellous thing - the thing that has no body nor flesh, for fear of the King of heaven, against the law of nature they shall do the deed.
105] Then both poor and rich will die, nor shall anything be an exception then. We shall all be the same, both knight and baron, earl and king.
109] Neither castle nor tower will help there, neither palfrey, hunter nor any steed, for all his great position, will prevent him from dying very soon.
113] The eighth day will be terrifying, and you shall see that very well. This whole day shall be full of suffering and agony.
117] The entire sea will draw together to stand upright like a wall, and all these waters that are here shall call upon God Almighty for mercy.
121] The sea shall drive apart so fiercely all the fish that are created therein that they will believe in their thought that the God of heaven is not alive.
125] Then the sea shall draw back again into the place where it had been and each area of fresh water then shall have come to its own place.
129] The ninth sign shall be as follows: The wonders that shall happen that same day shall be different from all the others. I can tell you what it will be.
133] The holy man, Saint Augustine, tells that the skies shall speak then in a voice just as if it were a man, when all things shall have an end.
137] They shall cry loudly, moreover, to call upon God with the sound of a man, as heaven and earth shall collapse: ‘God and man, now mercy!’
141] ‘Lord, have mercy, out of your great power! Now all our time is spent, for the sight of sinful man's eyes never let us be destroyed!’
145] There is no saint in heaven above in the whole of God's company that will not be moved by it, and be afraid of that same sign.
149] Thus Saint Jerome tells us, and Saint Gregory as well, that the Seraphim and Cherubim, who are two ranks of angels, will tremble then.
153] There is no angel in heaven, indeed, that shall have speech with another so grievously afraid they will be, indeed, on account of Jesus Christ's terrible vengeance.
157] All the devils that are in hell will come then with a great noise. You will hear their lament very well, hear how they will cry to God and man.
161] Oh, man and woman take heed how the devils shall make their lament! You ought to conduct yourself with great purity, while you are in this miserable dwelling.
165] They will call upon Jesus Christ with such a voice of torment and misery: ‘Lord, give us our safe resting place, let us never go to hell again!’
169] On the eleventh day four winds will rise and then the rain bow will fall, so that all the devils will shudder in fear of it and be driven into hell.
173] And so, willy nilly they must flee, and into the torment of hell, in spite of themselves there they must be, to remain there in double torment.
177] On the twelfth day the four elements will all cry in one strong voice: ‘Mercy, Jesus, son of Mary, as you are God and King of heaven!’