I'm really looking forward to seeing this exhibition on the 11th November in the OPW building in Trim. Members of The Boyne Writers submitted poems about Tara to Rath Chairn Art Group, the Art Group then used the writers' works as prompts and the base for new paintings. I believe that I will have three poems painted. Two of the poems below and suitable for this dark time of the year. The Woods on Tara Hill was inspired by a New Year's Eve walk on a Tara that was covered with snow and ice. Sometimes I imagine what the old people would like to say if they could have a voice. The poem written in Irish was an experiment and I tried my best with my limited knowledge of the language.
The Woods on Tara Hill
We are smothered –
Behind every trunk an exit, and none.
Way is leading on to way.
Sunlight illumines briefly.
Who goes there?
A stag? A man? A Ghost? A God?
Pray stay with us for a thousand years
And more above the river and hinterland!
Between the oak and holly we are gagged.
Layers of leaves, dry as sand, rustle on the ground.
We are dying in the woods and our innocence expires…
Some return, occasionally light fires and remember,
Hug the trees like they are souls, place coins in the bark,
Bid us the blessing of Litha by the Lia Fáil.
We ache to break surface, scream with beasts in the night.
Few heed us, release us; forgotten voices of the past.
Where are our poets and our druids?
Brethren we are the Tuatha, the Fianna and the Sí!
Drink deep our wines carried in the midnight murmur;
The faraway sound of the paternal drum.
Órla Fay
Oíche Shamhna
Teamhair mo chroí, Teamhair mo chroí,
táim ag lorg an púca agus an cailleach
ar do sliabh.
Tá an Samhain ag teacht agus táim caillte
leis an gaoth atá ag séideadh
trasna na duilleoga
agus atá ag tiomaint na scamaill
sa spéir liath agus brúite
leis an tráthnóna.
Beidh an capall ag rith suas an bóthar
tar éis tamaill. Beidh Cormac an Rí
ag marcaíocht
go dtí an tine mór. Beidh féasta ar siúl
agus feicfidh mé na daoine aosta
ag siúl leis na daoine beo.
Órla Ní Fhéich
Translated -
Hallowe’en
Tara my heart, Tara my heart,
I am looking for the ghost and the witch
on your hill.
Hallowe’en is coming and I am lost
with the wind that is blowing
across the leaves
and that is driving the clouds
in the sky grey and bruised
with the evening.
The horses will be running up the road
in a while. Cormac the King
will be riding
to the big fire. There will be a feast
and I will see the old people
walking with the living.
Órla Fay
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