Scottish literature has lost an outstanding bilingual poet with the death last month at 80 of Aonghas MacNeacail. Here is a love poem by him which reaches to the stars with energy and emotion even in translation (how enviable to enjoy it in its Gaelic form also). With his partner Gerda Stevenson, poet and actor, the high talents of the two have added lustre to the nation’s creative scene. One of MacNeacail’s endearing idiosyncrasies is a disdain for capital letters, even in the personal pronoun “I”.
LESLEY DUNCAN
TONIGHT YOU BEING FROM ME
although the journey of the stars
were between you and me
the thread of silk will not decay
that bound you to me
that tied me to you,
and tonight you being from me
i am in darkness
sending words to you
my heart’s cargo
heavy dark words without shape,
vowel and consonant
multiplying to sense,
as the foliage of trees
bends their branches,
in darkness
in the breeze
leaves sporting their green
first flicker of dawn
A-NOCHD IS TU BHUAM
ged a bhiodh cuairt nan reul
eadar mi is tu
cha chrion an snath-sioda
a cheangail mi riut,
agus a-nochd is tu bhuam
tha mi san dubhar
cur bhriathran thugad
luchd mo chridhe
faclan trom dorcha gun chruth,
foghair is connrag
a’ siolachadh gu ciall,
mar a tha duilleach nan craobh
a’ cromadh nan geug,
anns an doilleir
san oiteag
a’ mireadh an guirme
priobadh na camhanaich
Poem from Oideachadh Ceart, Polygon 1997, and The Edinburgh Book of Twentieth-Century Scottish Poetry, EUP 2005.
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