Transcript

Ar maidin sa dónaing nuair a dh'osclaíos-sa mo shúile
Agus dh'fhéach mé go dubhachmhar amach ar an spéir
Chuimhnigh mé go brónach ar an saol a bhí romhamsa,
Ná beadh éinne in mo chúram nach[1] ainnise an tsaoil.

Giobal ná fáithim[2] ní raibh ar sileadh lem chnámhanna
Ó chuir mé ort an fáinne istigh sa séipéal;
Bhí mo bhróga go galánta agus mo cheirte[3] go sásta,
Ní náir dom é a rá[4] leat i láthair an tsaoil.

Mo chreach is mo chráiteacht! Is mór an tsannseáil[5] dom
Tú bheith 'om dh'fhágaint amáireach ag dul ' dtí ard an tséipéil;
Nuair a chasfadsa, a ghrá ghil, abhaile ar mo gharlaigh
Is dubhach is is cráite é mo scéal,
Féachaint ar mo gharlaigh ag tabhairt a n-aghaidh ar gach áit uaim
Ar nós éanlach[6] an aeir.

Translation

When I opened my eyes this morning at daybreak
And I sorrowfully looked out at the sky
I thought with sadness about the life ahead of me,
With nothing to concern me but the misery of life.

I have worn no raggy or shabby clothes
Since I placed the ring on you in the church;
My shoes were stylish and my clothes refined,
I am proud to say it to you in the presence of all.

My ruin and sorrow! What a change it is for me
Having you leave me tomorrow and going to the church hill (?);
When I return, my darling, home to my children
Dark and sorrowful is my plight,
Looking at my children scattering to all directions from me,
Like the birds of the sky.

Footnotes

Commentary

Although this poem appears without an introduction, two other tellings, under the title Ar maidin sa dúnaing appear in Máirtín Verling, Leabhar Mhaidhc Dháith (An Daingean, 2007), 378 and 492-3, and provide a context. They explain how this is a poem recited by a man over the dead body of his wife on the morning after her wake. As such, it is part of the tradition of the caoineadh, or a ritualized poetic lament uttered over the corpse of someone who has died. While many of these types of poems were extempore and formulaic in character, this text may be a more considered composition. Indeed, it may be one of the present informant's own compositions. See Risteard B. Breatnach, Seana-chaint na nDéise II (Dublin, 1962), 177n. For more information generally, see Patricia Lysaght, 'Caoineadh os cionn coirp: the lament for the dead in Ireland', Folklore 108 (1997), 65-82.