Ná luig, ná luig...

Ná luig, ná luig
fót fora taí:
gairit bía fair,
fota bía faí.

(not * swear * not * swear/
sod * on which * you are/
short * you will be * on it/
long * you will be * under it)

Do not swear, do not swear
by the sod on which you stand;
a short time you'll be on it,
a long time you'll be under it.

This is the first stanza, edited by James Carney in "Medieval Irish Lyrics", of a five stanza poem on the vanity and brevity of earthly life. This first stanza also stands alone as a marginal note in another manuscript, jotted down by a scribe whose fancy it had caught.