You were driving by the sea
You were driving by the sea
in the dream,
explaining your regret,
why you led us not into temptation.
And I remembered then
the biblical rain
that lashed your conscience
at the doorway of desire.
I woke with my feet
in a puddle of rainwater,
the church-bell
counting my sorrows.
Bhís dom’ thiomáint cois trá
Bhís dom’ thiomáint cois trá
sa taibhreamh,
ag míniú an cathú a bhí ort,
an fáth nár ligis sinn i gcathú…
is chuimhníos ansan
ar an mbáisteach bhíoblúil
a fhliuch do choinsias
ar tairseach na dúile…
Dhúisíos le mo dhá chois
i lochán báistí,
clog an tsáipéil
ag áireamh mo bhróin.
Wound
the Corrib broke its banks
last night
a pool under the Arch
the sky threatened this morning
and I was almost flattened
at a red traffic light
a hook-nosed man sat
on a low wall,
hurt in his eyes.
in his arms was a swan,
a black sack around her,
a bright red wound on her white neck.
Cneá
bhris an Choirib a bruacha
aréir
bhí tuile fén bPóirse
bhagair an spéir ar maidin,
is ba dhóbair gur deineadh leircín díom
ag solas tráchta dearg
bhí fear cromógach suite
ar bhalla íseal,
goin ina shúile
ina bhaclainn, bhí eala,
sac dubh uimpi
is cneá dearg ar a muineál bán.
When one Despairs
Some days, let’s admit it,
I tire
of rallying to her defence
I weary of being rooted
here by her bedside
this language
that has been violated
hoping she’ll come around
watching her assiduously
wishing the life back into her again
And when I see
her rotting bones
calcifying
I know that
one day
there will be nothing left
nothing but dust, mute…
like myself, come to think of it.
Laethanta Lagmhisnigh
Admhaím corrlá
bím traochta
dá cosaint os comhair an tsaoil
Bím bréan de bheith fréamhaithe
cois leapan
na teangan éignithe
seo
ag guí biseach uirthi
á faire go cúramach
ag impí beatha inti arís
Is nuair a chím
a cnámha lofa
ag cailciú
tuigim
ná beidh fágtha
lá éigin
ach smúit bhalbh…
ach an oiread liom féin.
Ailbhe Ní Ghearbhuigh, originally from Kerry, now lives in Galway and has had work published in Poetry Ireland Review, Feasta, Crannóg, Go Nuige Seo, and Best of Irish Poetry 2009. She has read poetry in Montréal, the Outer Hebrides, Dublin Book Festival, Imram Literary Festival, and New York. Her first collection, Péacadh, was published by Coiscéim in 2008. “Bhís dom’ thiomáint cois trá” translated by the author and Billy Ramsell. “Cneá” translated by the author and “Laethanta Lagmhisnigh” translated by Gabriel Rosenstock: the original Irish versions published in Péacadh, Coiscéim, 2008.