Bede's death song

I'll be away from a computer for the next few days - I hope! So I've scheduled the blog to post this short series of 'Catholic' verse. The selection is was suggested by an anthology my dear former rector gave me as a parting gift when I moved on from being his curate (I wonder what he was trying to say giving me an anthology of Catholic verse!).


First up is what often referred to as Bede's death song. Some words of wisdom from a saintly man, wiser and more holy than I can ever hope to be, but whom we should all aspire to emulate

Facing that enforced journey, no man can be
More prudent than he has good call to be,
If he consider, before his going hence,
What for his spirit of good hap or of evil
After his day of death shall be determined.

(Colgrave and Mynors, Bede's Ecclesiastical History, pp. 580–3)