Le Séamas Ó Neachtain
Cén fáth go bhfuil an suim agam sa ghruaim,
Ag léamh Solzhenitsyn is Sassoon?
Ag déanamh comhbhróin leis an sé milliún,
Cén fáth go bhfuil fios a gcéasta uaim?
Go mbíonn solas is gile an anama
Ansin sa dorchadas is dorcha,
I dteannta corpán sna bladhmanna,
Mar thionlacan na bpiléar á bpléasca?
Bíonn dóchas ann i measc an donais,
Is faightear eagna ann ag déanamh iontais
Nach gcloítear faoi bhrú ’n bháis is ‘n tinnis
An íomhá Dé nach bhfeiceann sa saol seo a duais.
Sa dua suarach i mo shaolsa féin,
Bíonn sólás tugtha domsa ó i gcéin,
Ón lucht daonna is daonna ina mhéin,
Is spreagadh dom gan taobhú leis an léan.
By James Norton
Why is it that I’m drawn to the depressing,
Reading Solzhenitsyn and Sassoon?
Commiserating with the six million,
Why is knowledge of their torture a desired thing?
Is it that the brightest light of the soul
Is there in the darkest darkness,
Together with the bodies in the flames,
As an accompaniment to the bursting bullet?
There is always hope in the midst of misery,
And wisdom gotten there, wondering
That the image of God, unrewarded in this life,
Is not defeated by the force of death and sickness.
In the petty difficulties of my own life,
Solace is given to me from afar,
From those of humanity most human in their way,
And they push me not to side with the sorrow.
Gach ceart ar cosnamh. © 2005 James Norton.