flaes,
aefter deoth-daege doemid uueorth[a]e.

Literally translated, this runs as follows:

Before the need-journey no one becomes
more wise in thought than he ought to be,
(in order) to contemplate, ere his going hence,
what for his spirit, (either) of good or of evil,
after (his) death-day, will be adjudged.

It is from Beda's _Church History_, Book IV, chap. 24 (or 22),
that we learn the story of C{ae}dmon, the famous Northumbrian poet, who
was a herdsman and lay brother in the abbey of Whitby, in the days
of the abbess Hild, who died in 680, near the close of the seventh
century. He received the gift of divine song in a vision of the night;
and after the recognition by the abbess and others of his heavenly
call, became a member of the religious fraternity, and devoted the
rest of his life to the composition of sacred poetry.

He sang (says Beda) the Creation of the world, the origin of the
human race, and all the history of Genesis; the departure of Israel
out of Egypt and their entrance into the land of promise, with many
other histories from holy writ; the incarnation, passion, and
resurrection of our Lord, and His ascension into heaven; the coming
of the Holy Spirit and the teaching of the Apostles. Likewise of
the terror of the future judgement, the horror of punishment in
hell, and the bliss of the heavenly kingdom he made many poems;
and moreover, many others concerning divine benefits and judgements;
in all which he sought to wean men from the love of sin, and to
stimulate them to the enjoyment and pursuit of good action.

It happens that we still possess some poems which answer more or less
to this description; but they are all of later date and are only known
from copies written in the Southern dialect of Wessex; and, as the
original Northumbrian text has unfortunately perished, we have no
means of knowing to what extent they represent C{ae}dmon's work. It is
possible that they preserve some of it in a more or less close form of
translation, but we cannot verify this possibility. It has been
ascertained, on the other hand, that a certain portion (but by no
means all) of these poems is adapted, with but slight change,
from an original poem written in the Old Saxon of the continent.

Nevertheless, it so happens that a short hymn of nine lines has been
preserved nearly in the original form, as C{ae}dmon dictated it; and it
corresponds closely with Beda's Latin version.