Cuckoo!
by Rody Gorman
What’s sweetest to me around the waves
Although my limbs are stunted tonight
Is not the tintinnabulation of a church-bell
But the cuckoo of the cuckoo of the Bann.
Wifely woman, don’t give birth
To your son of a Friday,
A day of fasting for Mad Sweeney
For the love of the true God.
As the women beat the flax, it’s true,
Though it’s from me you’re hearing it,
So were my family and retinue
Beaten at Moira in the battle.
From the cliff at Lough Dollard
To Derry where Columba was,
I never heard of any troubles,
Just a sweet swansong.
A stag in the wilderness bellowing
Above the cliffs in the glen,
There’s no music on earth
Sweeter to my soul.
O Christ, Christ, hear me,
O Christ, sweet Christ impeccable,
O Christ, Christ, my friend, give me love,
Don’t let me be parted from your sweetness
| Extract from forthcoming Sweeney: an intertonguing by Rody Gorman | |
|---|---|
Rody Gorman’s Sweeney, An Intertonguing is published this spring by Francis Boutle Publishers. The work is multilingual version of Buile Shuibhne, in English, Irish, Scottish and Manx Gaelic with lingua gadelica, phonemic pieces and round-trip translations. Pre-publication reactions to the work have been full of praise, with words such as ‘extraordinary’, ‘masterpiece’ and ‘magnificent’ used by more than one eminent commentator. Ed. | |
| Bás Gan Sagart | Poem by Rody Gorman |
| Cuckoo! | Poem by Rody Gorman |
| Curse | Poem by Rody Gorman |
| Dear to me | Poem by Rody Gorman |
| Fatal Shot | Poem by Rody Gorman |
| Hag of the Mill | Poem by Rody Gorman |
| In Battle | Poem by Rody Gorman |
| Madman of the Glen | Poem by Rody Gorman |
| Moylinney | Poem by Rody Gorman |
| My Night In Kildervila | Poem by Rody Gorman |
| Myself and Yourself | Poem by Rody Gorman |
| There | Poem by Rody Gorman |
| Young Men | Poem by Rody Gorman |