Poem
Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill
Mo Mhíle Stór
I was under your spell from the start:I was young, I was soft,
and you well knew you could turn my head
with your talk about whitewashed courts
and big long sleeps on a duck-down bed
and gloves made out of the skins of fish.
When you sailed away
my goodbyes were the gulls in your wake.
I put up with rows and with blame
from every side; there was a time
when I could number my friends
on the fingers of one hand.
You sailed through life, you came back home,
your boat beached on my bed.
As I covered you all in honey,
I saw your hair had gone grey
and straight;
but in my memory the curls grew on,
twelve coils in the ripening
crop on your head.
© Translation: 1990, Seamus Heaney
From: Pharaoh\'s Daughter
Publisher: The Gallery Press, Oldcastle, 1990
From: Pharaoh\'s Daughter
Publisher: The Gallery Press, Oldcastle, 1990
Mo Mhíle Stór
Mo Mhíle Stór
I dtús mo shaoil do mheallais méi dtráth m’óige, trí mo bhoige.
Thuigis go maith
go bhféadfaí mo cheann a chasadh
le trácht ar chúirteanna aoldaite,
ar chodladh go socair i gcuilteanna
de chlúmh lachan,
ar lámhainní de chraiceann éisc.
Ansan d’imís ar bord loinge,
chuireas mo mhíle slán i do choinne.
Chuireas suas le bruíon is le bearradh
ó gach taobh ; bhí tráth ann
go bhféadfainn mo chairde a chomhaireamh
ar mhéireanta aon láimhe amháin,
ach ba chuma.
Thugais uait cúrsa an tsaoil
is d’fhillis abhaile.
Tháinig do long i dtír
ar mo leaba.
Chlúdaíos le mhil thú
is chonac go raibh do ghruaig
fachta liath is díreach.
Fós i mo chuimhní
tánn tú bachallach,
tá dhá chocán déag i do chúl buí
cas.
© 1990, Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill
From: Pharaoh\'s Daughter
Publisher: The Gallery Press, Oldcastle
The title of the English translation retains that of the original Irish. There is no adequate literal translation in English it means something like "My Thousand-times Love" or "My Love to Infinity"
From: Pharaoh\'s Daughter
Publisher: The Gallery Press, Oldcastle
Poems
Poems of Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill
Close
Mo Mhíle Stór
I was under your spell from the start:I was young, I was soft,
and you well knew you could turn my head
with your talk about whitewashed courts
and big long sleeps on a duck-down bed
and gloves made out of the skins of fish.
When you sailed away
my goodbyes were the gulls in your wake.
I put up with rows and with blame
from every side; there was a time
when I could number my friends
on the fingers of one hand.
You sailed through life, you came back home,
your boat beached on my bed.
As I covered you all in honey,
I saw your hair had gone grey
and straight;
but in my memory the curls grew on,
twelve coils in the ripening
crop on your head.
© 1990, Seamus Heaney
From: Pharaoh\'s Daughter
Publisher: 1990, The Gallery Press, Oldcastle
The title of the English translation retains that of the original Irish. There is no adequate literal translation in English it means something like "My Thousand-times Love" or "My Love to Infinity"
From: Pharaoh\'s Daughter
Publisher: 1990, The Gallery Press, Oldcastle
Mo Mhíle Stór
I was under your spell from the start:I was young, I was soft,
and you well knew you could turn my head
with your talk about whitewashed courts
and big long sleeps on a duck-down bed
and gloves made out of the skins of fish.
When you sailed away
my goodbyes were the gulls in your wake.
I put up with rows and with blame
from every side; there was a time
when I could number my friends
on the fingers of one hand.
You sailed through life, you came back home,
your boat beached on my bed.
As I covered you all in honey,
I saw your hair had gone grey
and straight;
but in my memory the curls grew on,
twelve coils in the ripening
crop on your head.
© 1990, Seamus Heaney
From: Pharaoh\'s Daughter
Publisher: 1990, The Gallery Press, Oldcastle
From: Pharaoh\'s Daughter
Publisher: 1990, The Gallery Press, Oldcastle
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