Innis
Gus guth làn faoileagmhor a thoirt dha na h-eileanan-sa –
na clèibh de dh’innis-mharannan ’s stacan uaibhridh
na clachan-staire agus drochaidean cuimhne,
na tasgaidhean facail, pràisichean agus hieroglyphan gneiss,
na gleocan geòlasach, bàtaichean sgeireach agus raointean gluasadach,
na h-imleagan-sa, na puingean-deiridh-sa, na h-iomallan-fairge gun chrìoch,
na nid sgairbh, na h-uirighean-sa, garaidhean agus spòran air fleod,
na pòcanan adhair, na cuachan breò agus na comharran-stiùiridh
nan seasamh gu diongalta an aghaidh nan sruthan, ag ath-aithris
uisge, bùrn is sàl dhan a’ ghaoith – bhiodh feum agaibh èisteachd
ris an t-sluaisreadh aig an t-shoormal ann an geodha
ri gugail peedie na curracaige a’ sgiathadh atween wadders
agus ris a h-uile duine a tha eòlach air an iomadh ainm ac’
agus a chleachdas iad mar chairt-iùil airson faighinn hame
Translations of this Poem
Innis
Translator: Pàdraig MacAoidh Peter Mackay
To give full, gull-throated voice to these islands –
these woven creel archipelagos and proud stacs,
stepping stones to themselves, word-stores,
crucibles and memory bridges, these hieroglyphs of gneiss,
geologic clocks, rocky lifeboats and omphaloi,
sand-shifting landing strips, these end points and infinite
coastlines, cormorant ledges, holts and hovers,
floating spores, pockets of air, bioluminescent nests
and landmarks each braced against their own currents,
their every fresh reiteration of water tilted to the winds –
you must listen to the sluaisreadh at the shoormal,
to the peedie calls of the curracag atween wadders,
and to all those who tend their many names
and depend on them to navigate their ways hame
About this poem
Innis was commissioned by the Scottish Government for the National Islands Plan annual report.
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Pàdraig MacAoidh Peter Mackay
Pàdraig MacAoidh / Peter Mackay is originally from the Isle of Lewis; he lectures in the School of English at the University of St Andrews, and has written widely on Scottish and Irish poetry.
