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  • Èigh Dheireannach
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Èigh Dheireannach

Rody Gorman

San Departure Lounge airson
Barraigh ‘s Beinn a’ Bhaghla,
Cailleach thapaidh leatha fhèin a’ feitheamh
Ris an èigh dheireannaich
Agus guth gu h-àrd ag iarraidh mathanais
Leis gu bheil maill’ ann.

Bidh a’ chailleach ga cromadh fhèin
Is ag ràdh ri neach
Nach eil san làthair fon teanga:
Coma leat, a luaidh!
Cho cinnteach ris a’ bhàs,
Thig i uair no uaireigin.


Rody Gorman

from Southlight, 4 (2008)

Reproduced by permission of Rody Gorman.

Tags:

Gaelic Gaelic mortality Translations

Translations of this Poem

Final Call

In the Departure Lounge –
it’s all the one
terminal and zone –
for Lewis and Harris,
a hardy old cailleach waits on
the final call on her own
and a voice out of nowhere
from above apologises for the delay.

The cailleach turns
and says in Gaelic to someone
who’s not there, under her breath:

Don’t you worry.
Sure as death,
it’ll come sometime.

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Rody Gormanb.1960

Rody Gorman was born in Dublin in 1960 and now lives on the Isle of Skye; he writes in and translates between, Irish and Scottish Gaelic.
More about Rody Gorman

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