Transcript

Is gearr ó rinne mé an pós-...

Tháinig mé isteach go tigh an ósta
Agus d'fhiafraigh an óigbhean dhaom,
"Cá fhad ó rinne tú an pósadh?
Nach n-airíonn tú an óige dhá cloí?"
"Is gearr ó rinne mé an pósadh,
Agus airím é go mór ag dul thríom,
Is an té nach ndearnaidh go fóill é
Is aige atá spóirt an tsaoil."

Caiptín mise a bhí in Éirinn
Is chaith mé téarma ar loing,
Bhainfinn scil as na spéirthí,
Agus chabhairfeadh[1] na réaltaí liom.
Níl aon bhean óg ar an tsaol seo
A shínfeadh a taobh geal liom
Nach rachainn anonn go Júméice dhaoithe
Go (gcoinnínn luach tae) agus rum.

Is an gcluin sibh[2] mise, a mhná óga?
Déanaigí an pósadh in am.
Ní fhásfaidh na dilliúir faoi dhó
Nó go dtitfidh siad anuas dhon gcrann.
Is cosúil sibh le lá fómhair
Nó le long a bheadh ag seoladh i gcam,
Is mur bhfaghadh sí go tapaidh píolótaí
Tiocfaidh bratach anuas faoin gcrann.

Agus gabhfad go hIorras thar tír,
San áit a mblitear go fial na ba,
Tá báid is loingis ag iascaireacht ann,
Is muintir an taobh ó dheas.
Beidh againn (teach) fada agus fásach,
Coiníní buí agus glas,
Is achuile shórt eile dhá n-iarrfaidh muid,
Cead rince ar gach taobh dhon teach.

Ní bhainfidh mé an fhéasóg seo dhaomsa
Go bhfásfaidh sí míle ar fad,
Déanfaidh mé cuilt dho mo bhríste
A mhairfeas le linn na bhfear.
Imeoidh mé amach faoin tír seo
Mar imíonns an chaora ghlas,
'S mur bhfaighidh mé bean ar an gcaoi sin
Ach tréigfidh mé an saol ar fad!

Translation

I recently got mar-...

I came into the public house
And the young woman asked me,
"How long have you been married?
Do you not feel your youth being subdued?"
"I got married recently,
And I feel it greatly piercing me,
And he who has not done so yet
It is he who has the best of fun."

I am a captain who was in Ireland
And I spent a term on a ship,
I would read the skies with skill,
And the stars would help me (?).
There is not a young woman in this world
Who would lay down beside me
For whom I would not go to Jamaica
To (...) tea and rum.

And do you hear me, young women,
Get married in time!
The leaves will not grow twice
Before they fall down from the tree.
You are like an autumnal day
Or a ship sailing off course,
If she does not quickly get a pilot
The sail will come down about the mast (?).

And I will go over land to Erris,
Where the cows are plentifully milked,
Where there are boats and ships fishing,
And the people of the southern side.
We will have long (...) and pasture
Brown and grey rabbits,
And everything else we would ask for,
Permission to dance all around the house.

I will not shave this beard of mine
Until it grows a mile in length,
I will make a quilt of my trousers
Which will last for ever.
I will go out into this country
Like the black sheep goes,
And if I don't find a woman that way
I'll abandon this life altogether!

Footnotes

Commentary

Micheál Ó Tiománaidhe published a version of this song entitled 'Is gairid ó rinne mé an pósadh' in Abhráin Ghaedhilge an Iarthair (Dublin, 1906). See new edition by William Mahon: Amhráin Ghaeilge an Iarthair: Micheál Ó Tiománaidhe a chruinnigh (Indreabhán, 1992), no. 32. Ó Tiománaidhe collected it from Pádraig Breathnach, Belmullet, county Mayo. The song is told from the point of view of a pleasant sea-captain who, according to Ó Tiománaidhe, carried cargo from Spain to Erris, county Mayo. See Amhráin Ghaeilge an Iarthair, 55-6. As music notation is not given by Ó Tiománaidhe or Mahon, the present recording offers an opportunity to hear this song in full. The present informant recites the same verses elsewhere in the Doegen collection. Mícheál Ó hInnéirghe recites an portion of the song in the Doegen collection also.