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  • bho Alasdair à Gleanna Garadh
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bho Alasdair à Gleanna Garadh

Sìleas na Ceapaich

Bu tu ’n t-iubhar thar gach coillidh,
Bu tu ’n darach daingeann làidir,
Bu tu ’n cuileann ’s bu tu ’n draigheann,
Bu tu ’n t-abhall molach blàthmhor;
Cha robh do dhàimh ris a’ chritheann
No do dhligheadh ris an fheàrna;
Cha robh bheag ionnad den leamhan;
Bu tu leannan nam ban àlainn.


Sìleas na Ceapaich

bho An Leabhar Mòr / from The Great Book of Gaelic (Canongate, 2002)

Reproduced by permission of the publisher.

Tags:

Gaelic Gaelic heroes & villains National Poetry Day 2009 poems on postcards translation Translations trees

Translations of this Poem

from Alasdair of Glengarry

Translator: Colm Ó Baoill


You were the yew above every forest, you were the
strong steadfast oak, you were the holly and the
black-thorn, you were the apple-tree, rough-barked and
many-flowered. You had no kinship with the aspen,
owed no bonds to the alder; there was none of the
lime-tree in you; you were the darling of beautiful women.

About this poem

bho Alasdair à Gleanna Garadh National Poetry Day postcard 2009

This poem was reproduced on a postcard for National Poetry Day 2009. Eight poetry postcards are published each year by the Scottish Poetry Library to celebrate National Poetry Day and are distributed throughout Scotland to schools, libraries and other venues. The theme for 2009 was heroes and villains. You can find out more about National Poetry Day in our National Poetry Day pages.

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Sìleas na Ceapaich1660 - 1729

Sìleas na Ceapaich was the daughter of a Chief of the MacDonalds, perhaps best known for her elegant lament 'Alasdair a Gleanna Garadh'.
More about Sìleas na Ceapaich

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