| Padraic Colum (1881–1972). Anthology of Irish Verse. 1922. |
| |
| 84. Colum-Cille’s Farewell to Ireland |
| |
| By Douglas Hyde (Translated) |
| |
| |
| ALAS for the voyage, O High King of Heaven, | |
| Enjoined upon me, | |
| For that I on the red plain of bloody Cooldrevin | |
| Was present to see. | |
| |
| How happy the son is of Dima; no sorrow | 5 |
| For him is designed, | |
| He is having, this hour, round his own hill in Durrow, | |
| The wish of his mind. | |
| |
| The sounds of the winds in the elms, like strings of | |
| A harp being played, | 10 |
| The note of a blackbird that claps with the wings of | |
| Delight in the shade. | |
| |
| With him in Ros-Grencha the cattle are lowing | |
| At earliest dawn, | |
| On the brink of the summer the pigeons are cooing | 15 |
| And doves in the lawn. | |
| |
| Three things am I leaving behind me, the very | |
| Most dear that I know, | |
| Tir-Leedach I’m leaving, and Durrow and Derry; | |
| Alas, I must go! | 20 |
| |
| Yet my visit and feasting with Comgall have eased me | |
| At Cainneach’s right hand, | |
| And all but thy government, Eiré, have pleased me, | |
| Thou waterful land. | |
| | | The saint is supposed to have made this poem while in his self-imposed exile in Iona. Scholars do not believe that the poems in Irish attributed to Colum-cille belong to his period—the first half of the sixth century. |
| |
|
|
|
