Columbanus exhorts a young friend to scorn the fleeting things of this life and to strive for eternal life.

¹ The world will pass away;
Daily it diminishes.
No one living will remain;
None alive has stayed.
The entire human race
Uses a common beginning
And falls from life
To the same end.

² Life differs for each,
But death snatches away all.
All the proud wanderers
Are seized by the grief of death.
What they refuse to give for Christ,
The greedy will lose unwillingly,
And others will gather it after them.
While living, they scarcely dare
To offer even a little to God.
They leave all to death;
Nothing of it remains with them.

³ Each day the life they love
Grows shorter;
An unending punishment remains
That they prepare for themselves.
They strive to gather
What slips away like ice,
And they fear less
To trust in what deceives them.
“They loved the dark shadows
More than the light.”

⁴ They refuse to imitate
The Lord of life as their leader.
They reign as in dreams:
They rejoice for an hour,
But eternal torments
Are still being prepared for them.
Blind, they do not see
What awaits after death,
The sinners and the wicked,
What their wickedness deserves.
You should think on all this,
Friend.

⁵ Let it not be for you to love
The form of this life:
All flesh is grass,
Even if burning and bright,
And like the flower of the grass
Is all its glory.
When the sun rises,
The grass withers,
And the flower fades.
Thus is all youth
When virtue has failed.
The beauty of men
Aging, falls away;
All former beauty
Is erased with sorrow.

⁶ The light of Christ’s face,
More lovable than all things,
Should be loved
More than the flower of frail flesh.
Beware, dear child,
Of the allure of women,
Through whom comes death,
Not a little destruction.
Many have endured
The fires of punishment,
Unwilling to accept
The loss of fleeting desires.

⁷ Do not ever drink
The cup of the most impious,
From which many often
Seem happy as they laugh.
For those you see
Laughing vainly,
Know that in the end
They will weep bitterly.

⁸ Consider, dearest friend,
That lust is like a deadly bite
Which overcomes sweetness.
Do not go headlong
Along the path of mortals,
Where you see many
Have met shipwreck.
Tread lightly
Among the snares,
Through which others,
Unaware, have been caught.

⁹ Lift the eyes of your heart
From earthly things.
Love the most beloved
Hosts of angels.
The blessed family,
Who dwell on high,
Where the old man does not groan,
Nor does the child cry,
Where no voice
Holds back the praises of the Lord,
Where no one hungers,
Where no one thirsts,
Where the heavenly people
Are fed with divine food,
Where no one dies,
Because no one is born,
Where the royal hall,
In which no harsh sound
Is ever heard,
Is filled with green, true life,
Which neither death nor fear of sorrow
Will consume.

¹⁰ Glad, after death is past,
They will see the joyful King;
With Him reigning, they will reign;
With Him rejoicing, they will rejoice.
Then pain, then weariness,
Then toil will be wiped away.
Then the King of kings,
The King of the world,
Will be seen by the pure.