Attributed to the Venerable Bede

Bede's Death Song is one of the earliest datable examples of Old English gnomic poetry. According to Cuthbert's letter on the death of Bede, the Venerable Bede (c. 673–735) sang these five lines in the Northumbrian dialect on his deathbed in 735 CE. The poem reflects on the soul's judgement after death — a fitting final utterance from the Father of English History.

This edition reproduces the translation by Cosette Faust and Stith Thompson. The Old English text is preserved in multiple manuscripts of Cuthbert's letter.

Before leaving this life there lives no one

Of men of wisdom who will not need

To consider and judge, ere he sets on his journey,

What his soul shall be granted of good or evil —

After his day of death what doom he shall meet.

Colophon

This edition of Bede's Death Song reproduces the translation by Cosette Faust and Stith Thompson, from Kluge's Angelsächsisches Lesebuch. The poem is one of the most widely attested works of Old English poetry, surviving in over 30 manuscript copies.

Compiled and formatted for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.

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