poetry

Oíche Nollaig na mBan: Poem and translation

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Women’s Christmas

There was power in the storm that escaped last night,

last night on Women’s Christmas,

from the desolate madhouse behind the moon

and screamed through the sky at us, lunatic,

making neighbours’ gates screech like geese

and the hoarse river roar like a bull,

quenching my candle like a blow to the mouth

that sparks a quick flash of rage.

I’d like if that storm would come again,

a night I’d be feeling weak

coming home from the dance of life

and the light of sin dwindling,

that every moment be full of the screaming sky,

that the world be a storm of screams,

and I wouldn’t hear the silence coming over me,

the car’s engine come to a stop.

Oíche Nollaig na mBan

Bhí fuinneamh sa stoirm a éalaigh aréir,

Aréir oíche Nollaig na mBan,

As gealt-teach iargúlta tá laistiar den ré

Is do scréach tríd an spéir chughainn ’na gealt,

Gur ghíosc geataí comharsan mar ghogallach gé,

Gur bhúir abhainn shlaghdánach mar tharbh,

Gur múchadh mo choinneal mar bhuille ar mo bhéal

A las ’na splanc obann an fhearg.

Ba mhaith liom go dtiocfadh an stoirm sin féin

An oíche go mbeadsa go lag

Ag filleadh abhaile ó rince an tsaoil

Is solas an pheaca ag dul as,

Go líonfaí gach neomat le liúrigh ón spéir,

Go ndéanfaí den domhan scuaine scread,

Is ná cloisfinn an ciúnas ag gluaiseacht fám dhéin,

Ná inneall an ghluaisteáin ag stad.

– from Selected Poems: Seán Ó Ríordáin, edited by Frank Sewell, to be published this year by Yale University Press and Cló Iar-Chonnacht

Source: Oíche Nollaig na mBan: Poem and translation

Patrick Kavanagh’s poem “Bluebells for Love”

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Patrick Kavanagh’s poem ‘Bluebells for Love’ was published in The Bell magazine, June 1945. It was inspired by a walk he took with his great love Hilda Moriarty in the wooded demense of Lord Dunsany’s estate in Co. Meath some weeks before.

Bluebells for Love

There will be bluebells growing under the big trees

And you will be there and I will be there in May;

For some other reason we both will have to delay

The evening in Dunshaughlin – to please

Some imagined relation,

So both of us came to walk through that plantation.

We will be interested in the grass,

In an old bucket-hoop, in the ivy that weaves

Green incongruity among the dead leaves,

We will put on surprise at carts that pass –

Only sometimes looking sideways at the bluebells in the

Plantation,

And never frighten them with too wild an exclamation.

We will be wise, we will not let them guess

That we are watching them or they will pose

A mere facade like boys

Caught out in virtue’s naturalness.

We will not impose on the bluebells in that plantation

Too much of our desire’s adulation.

We will have other loves – or so they’ll think;

The primroses or the ferns or the briars,

Or even the rusty paling wires,

Or the violets on the sunless sorrel bank.

Only as an aside the bluebells in the plantation

Will mean a thing to our dark contemplation.

We’ll know love little by little, glance by glance.

Ah, the clay under these roots is so brown!

We’ll steal from Heaven while God is in the town –

I caught an angel smiling in a chance

Look through the tree-trunks of the plantation

As you and I walked slowly to the station.

[ Patrick Kavanagh 1904 – 1967. ]

The order of service for a proper Burns supper

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Burns Night is a jolly occasion to eat haggis, read poetry and drink whisky, but there is more to it. If you want to go the whole hog here’s a traditional Burns Night order of service, poetry recitals and all

Celebrated on the Bard’s birthday (that’s Robert Burns to the uninitiated), Burns Night is a jolly occasion to eat haggis, read poetry and drink whisky, but there is more to it. If you want to go the whole hog here’s a traditional Burns Night order of service, poetry recitals and all.

  1. Gathered celebrants mingle, catch up on gossip, pore through their Burns editions, and peruse the whisky selection. The host may make some introductions, assign some readings, or deliver a few opening remarks. This may be a little different this year…
  2. Welcome Grace Celebrants are called to the table. The host offers an opening grace – traditionally The Selkirk Grace, and the soup course is served.
  3. Parade the haggis: the evening’s highest moment of pomp. The chef, carrying in the haggis, follows the piper – playing Brose & Butter, or some other appropriate tune – in a procession through the hall. The chef lays the haggis, on its groaning trencher, before the host at the high table.
  4. Address the haggis: a previously designated reciter reads a poem over the haggis. A ‘guid whisky gill’ is offered to the piper, chef and reciter, and with alacrity the haggis is sliced open with a ceremonial dirk (though any old knife will do). The meal is then served with all its composite courses and copious helpings of guid ale and whisky.
  5. Interval: after the meal there is a brief interval while the table is cleared or the celebrants retire to another room for the rest of the evening’s festivities. The host needs to keep the guests focused and facilitate the flow of the songs, toasts and poetry that are to follow. Time to refill your glasses!
  6. Song: a good warm-up for the Immortal Memory. Ask a musically inclined guest or two to sing a Burns song.
  7. Immortal Memory: the host, or designated speaker, delivers the Immortal Memory address. This should be a serious and careful consideration of the life and art of Robert Burns. It may be a general, biographical sort of speech, or address a specific aspect of the Bard’s work that is relevant to the particular group. This speech should be long-winded enough to remind the guests that this isn’t the office Christmas party, yet not so long as to induce cramping, dry-mouth, or ringing in the ears (about 25 minutes). This speech always ends with standing guests, raised glasses and an offered toast to the immortal memory of the Bard of Ayr.
  8. Songs, music and readings: Now follow the other poems, toasts, songs and addresses of the evening. Celebrants who have arrived with selections to read take their turn. It always helps if the host has some readings selected for guests who have arrived unprepared. Anything that honours the immortal memory and spirit of the Bard is welcome. These include stories and anecdotes pertaining to Burns and his time, poems and songs by other Scottish poets, and original works composed by the celebrants.
  9. Toast To The Lassies: this toast should be a light-hearted lampoon of the lassies’ (few) shortcomings. Illustrations from Burns, or from first-hand knowledge of the subject, may be used.
  10. Reply From The Lassie: always delivered with grace, charm and wit, this savaging of the men is always accepted with good humour by the menfolk present.
  11. Tam o’ Shanter: No Burns Night is complete without a recitation of the great narrative poem.
  12. Songs and Poems: The host may play it by ear and keep the readings going as long as the guests are willing. Alternatively, the evening may evolve into a bacchanal of music, song and dancing.
  13. Closing remarks from the host: When an end to the festivities has finally arrived the host should thank the guests. A few reciprocal remarks, or a toast, may be made by one of the celebrants and a vote of thanks offered.
  14. Auld Lang Syne: The traditional end to any Burns Night – indeed, an appropriate end to any evening spent among the company of friends. It always helps to have the correct lyrics printed out for the, by now, groggily satisfied guests.

Source: The order of service for a proper Burns supper