The Descent of Brighid

Each day and each night
That I say the Descent of Brighid:

I shall not be slain.
I shall not be sworded.
I shall not be put into a cell.
I shall not be hewn.
I shall not be riven.
I shall not be anguished.
I shall not be wounded.
I shall not be ravaged.
I shall not be blinded.
I shall not be made naked.
I shall not be left bare.
Nor will Brighid
Leave me forgotten.

Nor fire shall burn me
Nor sun shall burn me
Nor moon shall blanch me.

Nor water shall drown me.
Nor flood shall drown me.
Nor brine shall drown me.

Nor the seed of the fairy host shall lift me.
Nor the seed of the airy hist shall lift me.
Nor earthly being destroy me.

I am under the shielding of good Brighid each day.
I am under the shielding of good Brighid each night.
I am under the keeping of the Nurse Cailleach.

Each early, each late,
Every dark and every light.

Brighid is my comrade-woman.
Brighid is my maker of song.
Brighid is my helping-woman.
My choicest of women, my guide.

From the Carmina Gaedelica (translation by Alexander Carmichael)