AN GAOḊAL.
935
Aċ 'nuair a bristear croiḋe 'g a cráḋa,
But when is broken (a) heart at its misery
Aig foilsiuġaḋ í ḃeiṫ beo.
At revealing it to-be alive
* The relative pronoun a, his, is o¬
mitted and a comma inserted to indi¬
cate its absence
(The poetical translation).
The harp that once through Tara’s halls
The soul of music shed,
Now hangs as mute on Tara's walls
As if that soul were fled.
So sleeps the pride of former days,
So glory’s thrill is o'er,
And hearts that once beat high for praise
Now feel that pulse no more.
No more to chiefs and ladies bright
The harp of Tara swells;
The chord alone, that breaks at night,
Its tale of ruin tells.
Thus freedom now so seldom wakes,
The only throb she gives
Is when some heart, indignant, breaks,
To show that still she lives.
Let students get every word of these songs off by
heart as the doing so will enable them to remem¬
ber how to place the words in general conversa¬
tion, for it must be remembered that in translating
a language the sense and not the verbatim order
is to be observed.
NOTICE — Five or six Leaguers have not sent the
translation of last month's exercise. Sending the
translation is a condition of membership and he
who neglects to do so, therefore, forfeits his subs¬
cription. This is an iron rule and will be observed
as such. The mail may some times miscarry, but
a third offense severs membership - and if the off¬
ending member desire to change from a Leaguer
to an ordinary subscriber, he may do so on the
payment of the ordinary subscription.
The following pieces have been sent to us by
Mr. J. J. Lyons, of the Philadelphia Society, who
deserves great credit for his successful exertions
in hunting up and reproducing the Irish Language
as it is spoken to-day throughout Ireland. These
pieces show the purity of the language in its natu¬
ral form and fully maintain Father York's assert¬
ion that, “No native speaker can destroy his own
language." No, it is the foreign importation,
like every other noxious weed, when admitted,
that destroys it.
This poem is taken down from the dictation of
Mr. John Walsh, of Callan, co. Kilkenny.
SEÁĠAN 'S AN BÁS.
Air ḃóṫar Luimniġ a casaḋ an bás
liom,
An gadaiḋ grána 's a ċúl le cloiḋe;
Ḋruid sé m' aice 's rug air láiṁ orm,
"Cianos a táir, a Ṡeáġain boiċt, no 'n
fada ḃiḋis?"
"Táim tinn, tuirseaċ, brúiġte amo
ċnáṁa
Leis na trí ṁála so air aġaiḋ mo
ċroiḋe."
"Caiṫ ḋíot ann sin iad 's tar liom i
láiṫreaċ
Go gleannta áluinne 's deun t'aiṫriġe."
"Diúltuġaḋ a ṫugaim duit, a ġadaiḋ
ġrána
'S na tar de mo láṫair go ceann naoi
mí,
No go raċaiḋ mé aḃaile aig an Aṫair
Mártan,
An fear is áille fa ċreideaṁ Ċríost."
"Na tig an t'eagna má ḃiḋeann a n-
Éirinn,
Faoi roṫaiḋe na gréine na cré le fáġ¬
ail,
Naċ d-tiuḃraḋ ṫusa liom, a Ṡeáġain
ḃoiċt aoraiġ,
Léig ḋe do ṗlae liom 's gluais mar ċáċ."
"Sé an áit a ġeoḃfas tú mé ann aice
an taḃrana,
Ameasg na sóġ-ḟear aig ól an díġ,
'S geallaim-se ḋuit-se má ġeoḃaim an
t-sláinte
Gur fada ó 'n áit so ġaḃfas Seáġan
arís."
"Téiġ aig an sagart a's deun do éist¬
eaċt,
A's do aiṫriġe deun-sa le Riġ na n-
grást';
Go d-téiġir go Páṫras ameasg na
naoṁ geal,
Diúltaiġ de 'n t-saoġal so 's de na
mnáiḃ."
"De ṁnáiḃ na Banaba go léir dá ndiúl¬
tógainn
Cia ḋeunfaḋ aon rud dam le linn mo
ḟán?
Buḋ ṁaiṫ an taca iad san oiḋċe de mo
ċúṁdaċ
No dúnaḋ mo ṡúile le linn mo ḃáis."
"Ḃeirim an t óg liom 's an cuman aosta
'Gus an fear is tréine d'a ḃ-fuil le
fáġail,
i gcríṫ
ṡár-ḟear
Is teaċtaire
mise.
See Gaelic Journal
No. 145. Oct. 1902.
