Transcript

Ó, 's is maighdean is baintreach mise a fágadh go hóg,
Ó, is an gcuala(idh) sibh uilig, a chairde, gur éalaigh mo mhíle stór,
Ó, dá mbeinnse amuigh an lá sin 's mo dhá lámh fán abhainn mhóir,
Dhéanfainn dídean duid, a Réiligh[1], agus leigheasfainn do bhrón.

(Agna haithrín is agna máithrín) bhí scéal cráití le (...),
Ó, fá mhaighdean na gruaige báine, maise, fágadh gan fear í,
Fear na céile a bhí aici póstaí, ó, (is nár théigh ariamh) a leabaidh,
Is ó chuaigh Réiligh ar an sáile (níor mheas sé riamh) pilleadh.

Ó, is níor mhór liom thusa, a Réiligh, a bheith i do chliamhain ag an rí,
Órú, cuirtíní geala gréigeal[2] a bheith ar 'ach taobh duid is tú i do luí,
Ó, maighdean chiúin chéillí a bheith ag réitigh anuas do chinn,
Ó, is má thug mé mo ghrá go léir duid (sula d'éag) tú le mo linn.

Ó, is dá bhfeicfeá tú[3] an tsráid seo (a bhí) lán de na fearaibh,
Órú, bhí siad as 'ach cearn ann is iad ag caint ar an bhainis,
Bhí fidil os cionn cláir ann, do bhí (na) cláirseach is í ag seinm,
Do bhí go leor de na mná (mánsa) le mo ghrá-sa a chur a chodladh.

Translation

I am a maiden and a widow who was bereaved very young,
Have you all heard, friends, that my darling has gone,
Oh, if I were out that day, with my two hands around the great river (?),
I would shelter you, Reilly, and I would cure your sorrow.

Her dear father and mother got terrible news (...),
About the fair-haired maiden, she was left without her husband,
Her husband to whom she was married and who never warmed her bed,
Reilly went on the water and was never to return.

I would not think it too good for you, Reilly, if you were the king's son in law,
Fine bright curtains on each side of you as you slept,
A quiet sensible maiden to comb your hair,
And if (?) I gave you all my love before you died during my time (?).

If you saw this street, full of men,
They were there from all parts, talking of the wedding feast,
There was a fiddle above the table there, harp being played,
Plenty of (...) women to put my love to sleep.

Footnotes

Commentary

This is an Ulster version of the song 'Liam Ó Raghallaigh' or 'Caoineadh Liam Uí Raghallaigh'. It is very popular in the Connacht repertoire and it is also well known in Munster. A young woman expresses her grief at having lost the love of her life, Liam Ó Raghallaigh (O'Reilly), who was drowned in Sruwaddacon Bay near where the Glenamoy River enters the sea in north-west Mayo. Tomás Ó Concheanainn references Mícheál Mac Énrí of Bangor Erris, county Mayo, who suggests the song was composed by the poet Micheál Mág Raith, also known as 'Micheál na nAmhrán' in the late eighteenth century. See Ó Concheanainn, Nua-dhuanaire III (Dublin, 1978) 15-16, 77. According to Brian O'Rourke the drowning occurred on Ó Raghallaigh's wedding night as 'he was rowing home to his bride, Neilí Nic Siúrtáin, having delivered the eighty year old officiating priest back to the village of Kilcommon after the wedding ceremony'. See O'Rourke, Blas meala (Blackrock, Co. Dublin, 1985), 94-102. In some longer versions, the widow graphically describes the vision she has of her drowned husband's corpse being left for worms, crabs and fish to feed on. She also curses those who built the sunken boat, a feature of many laments dealing with drowning tragedies in the Irish tradition. For further discussion and other versions see: Thomas O'Neill Russell, Fíor chláirseach na h-Éireann (Dublin, 1900), no. 55; Mícheál and Tomás Ó Máille, Amhráin Chlainne Gaedheal (Dublin, 1905; new edition by William Mahon, Amhráin Chlainne Gael (Indreabhán, 1991), 59-60); Kenneth Jackson, 'A Blasket version of the Lament for Reilly', Éigse 6 (1950), 112-13; Éamonn Mhac an Fhailigh, 'A Mayo version of the Lament for Reilly', Éigse 6 (1950), 114-15; Séamus Mac Mathúna, Treoir 6:3 (1974); Seán Óg Ó Baoill and Mánus Ó Baoill, Ceolta Gael (Cork, 1975), 64-5; Seán Ó Tuama and Thomas Kinsella, An duanaire 1600-1900: poems of the dispossessed (Dublin, 1981), 334-7; Micheál Ó Conghaile, Croch suas é (Béal an Daingin, 1987), 110. The melody used here by Nellie McConnell is different to that commonly sung in Connacht versions. Contrasting Connacht versions can be heard sung by Darach Ó Catháin on Pléaráca an Riadaigh (Gael Linn, 2008) and Seán 'ac Dhonncha on An spailpín fánach (Cló Iar-Chonnacht, 1994).