Skip to content

Scottish Poetry Library

Register/Sign in
Shopping Bag Shopping Bag
Bringing people and poems together
  • Home
  • COVID-19
    • Re-Opening FAQ
  • Poetry
    • Poems
    • Poets
    • Poetry Ambassadors 2020
    • Best Scottish Poems
    • Podcasts
    • Poetry and Mindfulness
    • Our National Poet
    • Posters
    • Publishers
  • Library
    • Become a borrower
    • Catalogue
    • Collections
    • Ask a librarian
    • Copyright enquiries
  • Learning
    • National Poetry Day 2019
    • National Poetry Day archive
    • SQA set texts
    • Learning resources
    • New to poetry?
    • Advice for poets
  • Events
    • What’s On
    • Venue hire
  • Shop
    • Scottish Poetry
    • Poetry Pamphlet Cards
    • Pocket Poets
    • Scotland’s Makar
    • Help
  • About us
    • Our story
    • Our people
    • Our projects
    • Jobs
    • Our building
    • FAQs
    • Find us
  • Support us
    • Become a Friend
    • Donate
    • Easy Fundraising
  • Blog
Shopping BagShopping Bag
Ask a librarian
  • Home
  • >
  • Poetry
  • >
  • Aonghas MacNeacail
  • >
  • dàn
Donate Donate icon Ask a Librarian Ask a Librarian icon

dàn

Aonghas MacNeacail

sgrìobh thu air m’ anam
do nàdur, a bhidse gun chridhe, is dhùin
thu an leabhar gu grad mus d’ ràinig
sinn deireadh ar sgeulachd

dh’fhuasgail is leig thu air falbh mi mar dhuilleag
bha seargte, a’ tionndadh a-null gu craobh ùr
gheibh esan an ceudna a spìonadh
mus seac thu às m’ inntinn-s’

mar ghalla fo choin rinn thu leum
bho aon chlais gu clais eile:
toirt dhomh adhbhair cho ciallach ri comhart
rinn thu m’ fhàgail

ach, a ghaoil, ged a shracainn mo chridhe
cha sgrìob mi às d’ àilleachd, fras earraich
do ghàire, drùdhadh do chniadaich, nas mìlse
na mil, do phuinnsean, gam thachdadh


Aonghas MacNeacail

from Dreuchd An Fhigheadair / The Weaver’s Task: a Gaelic Sampler, edited and introduced by Crìsdean MhicGhilleBhàin/Christopher Whyte (Scottish Poetry Library, 2007)

Reproduced by permission of the author.

Tags:

fashion Gaelic Gaelic graffiti the body The Weaver's Task translation Translations

Translations of this Poem

poem/song/destiny

Translator: David Kinloch


you spraycanned my soul
with your heartcore bitch
graffiti when the wall ran out

crumbled into wee fritters
of cement and blue and red paint;
so you picked a brand new

john’s syntaxoscopic interface;
he’s already bulldozed
and your guff clings on eternally;

heat dogg, heartmonger, boy
bitch, you scuffed back earth
from ditch to ditch;

left me barking
as bad as your bite
and limp

but even if I harpooned my dick
I won’t howk out your beauty
the spring spatter of your laughter

the palimpsest tattoo
left by your fingers

grindcore at my throat
your puckered evil
little flower
sucking up my face

About this poem

This poem and the translation or ‘response’ were published in Dreuchd An Fhigheadair / The Weaver’s Task: a Gaelic Sampler, edited by Christopher Whyte, and published by the Scottish Poetry Library in 2007. Seven Scottish poets with no knowledge of Gaelic were offered literal versions of contemporary Gaelic poems. Their responses were published alongside the Gaelic  originals in the book, and can also be read on the website collected under the tag: The Weaver’s Task.

Share this
Facebook
Twitter
Email

Learn more

Aonghas MacNeacailb.1942

Aonghas MacNeacail has been a leading voice in Gaelic poetry for decades, as poet, and as a regular literary commentator in print and on Gaelic radio. He is also a songwriter, screen writer and librettist.
More about Aonghas MacNeacail

Newsletter

Sign up for Scottish Poetry Library\\\'s regular email newsletter.
Subscribe now

Events

Discover poetry events at the Scottish Poetry Library and beyond.
Find forthcoming Events
  • Newsletter signup
  • Accessibility
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
Scottish Poetry Library
5 Crichton's Close, Canongate
Edinburgh EH8 8DT
Tel: +44 (0)131 557 2876
© Scottish Poetry Library 2021.
The Scottish Poetry Library is a registered charity (No. SCO23311).
City of Edinburgh logo Green Arts Initiative logo Creative Scotland logo
By leaves we live

The Scottish Poetry Library is staffed weekdays from 10am – 2pm and is providing a limited service including postal loans and Click & Collect. For details, click COVID-19 in the menu bar above. Dismiss