Damned When Dead

The earth cold and damp presses against my shroud
Mortality has fled my mortal frame
Immortal will forever be my name.

This earth has drank much blood
In the fight to save my land
Strange it is this feeling knowing my crown has passed to the Gall's hand.

The bells knell in sorrow as I am lowered down
The cold earth is silent for a time
My headstone, a cross of stone, bears my name
To remind all men that here I lie.

Deep within the bosom of the world
I finally become aware
Noises that I cannot comprehend
Whispers at first but now a roar.

Deafening it is. Fear does grip my soul
What is this ancient horror that calls me to its own?

A thunderous crack sounds overhead
As my cross is shorn in two
Has God passed sentence on my life?
I fear it could be true
My soul is slowly being sucked back to whence it came
Slowly I realise it be not God
Manannán be his name.

The earth which I no longer feel press against my skin
The shroud half hanging from my corpse
Trailing still within the bog which spews me up from the bowels
Of this ancient land I knees
Ochone, what is this hell on earth
Is this what from my dreams grew?

Putrid when living. Damned when dead.