Bunléitheoireacht Ghalach le Mícheál Rhodes

Bunléitheoireacht Ghalach a Deich le Mícheál Rhodes

This reading is a poem found in Lá 17 Feabhra 1994.

Luchain

Diarmuid Ó Gráinne ro-chan

Ó sheargaigh an croí
Ar phlána reoite an tsaoil,
An caisleán óir níor aimsigh
Gan fágtha ach smearchuimhní
Ag féachaint thar an bhfál--
Na húlla aibí ró-ard

Loinne lách an taoille--
Caiple faoi mhaoil feamainne
Torann spáide ag criathrú talún.
Fuisre gaoithe i ngarraí eorna
Meanma an bhaile ar a bhualadh,
Is muid sa tóir ar luchain.
Tháinig cársán an innill
Idir muid agus ár mian.

Mice

From the shrivelling of the heart
On the cold surface of the world,
One has not found the castle of gold
Nothing is left but the faded memory
Of looking through the hedge --
The ripe apples to far away.

The pleasant fierceness of the tide--
Waves on the hill of seaweed
The sound of a spade sifting soil.
The scrambling of the wind in the barley patch,
The attention of the village is on threshing.
We are hunting for mice.
The wheeze of the engine comes
Between us and our desire.

Foclóirín (Vocabulary)

Luchain (variant pl. of luch - mouse)
seargaigh = seargadh - wasting, shrivelling
plána (m) flat surface, plane
aimsigh - to find, locate
fágtha (a) left, abandoned, forsaken
smearchuimhne (f) faded memory
fál (m) hedge, fence
loinne (f) fierceness, vehemence
lách (a) pleasant, friendly
taoille (f) tide
caiple (variant pl. of capall) - capaill bháan - poetic reference to waves of the sea
maoil (f) hillock, knoll
feamainn (f) seaweed
torann (m) noise
spád (f) spade
criathraigh - to sift, winnow
talún (gen. sing. of talamh - earth, ground)
fuisre = fuirseadh - scrambling, tussling, bustling
garraí (m) small field, plot
eorna (f) barley
meanma (f) mind, thought, attention
bualadh (m) threshing
tóir (f) pursuit, hunt, search
cársán (m) wheeze
inneall (m) machine, engine
mian - desire

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