A’ Siubhal nam Blàth
Seillean
dian, dùrachdach
a’ siubhal nam blàth
mar a bhà
ann an Àird nam Murchan
o chionn dà cheud bliadhna gu leth
agus an dubh-Mhùideartach
ga dhian-amharc,
agus a-rithist
ann am meadhan a’ gheamhraidh
a’ dùsgadh na cuimhne sin.
An dùil am mair
blas na meala sin
dà cheud bliadhna gu leth eile
is a’ Ghàidhlig leth-bheò
ann an duilleagan sgoileir.
Carson nach maireadh
agus Horace is Catullus
fhathast a’ dùsgadh am blàth
nar cridheachan.
Translations of this Poem
Reconnoitering the Blossoms
A bee
steadily, industriously
reconnoitering the blossoms
just as
in Ardnamurchan
two and a half centuries ago
while the Dark-Moidart-man
observed it keenly
and later
in midwinter
revived the memory of it.
I wonder if the taste
of that honey will last
another two and a half centuries,
with Gaelic half-alive
on the pages of scholars.
Why not
when Horace and Catullus
still blossom
in our hearts.
(The Dark-Moidart-man is a nickname given to himself
by the 18th century poet Alasdair Mac Mhaighstir Alasdair.)
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Ruaraidh MacThòmais
Derick Thomson
No Gaelic poet has had more influence on the generation that followed him than Derick Thomson. As poet, publisher, and editor of the literary quarterly Gairm, Thomson shaped the development of Gaelic writing in the post-war period.Derick Thomson
