Poems

Ailbhe Ní Ghearbhuigh


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.