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Month: February 2008

Poetry across the World

Mashkioya 2 Comments

Did you know I’m a poet? Perhaps you already did know it, but that makes no difference to the discussion at hand. But if you do know that I write poetry, you probably also are aware that I am a multilingual person, and were you to put two and two together, you might come to the reasonable conclusion that I write poetry in several languages.

Well, only just recently have I begun to branch out from my native tongue in terms of writing verse. I am currently engaged in tediously reading the Medieval Greek epic Digenes Acritas, and I have written a few Greek poems adhering to the same form (fifteen-syllable blank verse). I haven’t tried rhyming in Greek yet, but I’ll get to that eventually.

But just this evening Read More

The Green Fields of Gaothdobhair

Mashkioya 1 Comment

Seeing as how I don’t really have much to blog about this week, I’ve decided to share with you the lyrics to an Irish song sung by Clannad called “The Green Fields of Gaothdobhair.” It’s a really pretty song, and if you’re interested in hearing it, it may be found on their 1982 album Fuaim. Here are the lyrics, from TaraMusic.com:

Down past Dunlewey’s bonny lakes
One morning I did stray,
Until I reached sweet Clady banks
where the silvery salmon play,
I strolled around through old Bunbeg
and down along the shore,
And gazed with admiration
on the green fields of Gaothdobhair.

I visit Magherclocher,
On Middletown heights I stand,
Beneath me lies the ocean wide,
and Machergallon strand,
Those sandy banks so dear to me,
Those banks I do adore,
Behind me lies sweet Derrybeg
and the green fields of Gaothdobhair.

The bonny Isle of Goal
and Inishmean so near,
I see the little fishing fleet
as it lies along the pier,
I wander through the graveyard
where those have gone before,
That once lived happy and content
on the green fields of Gaothdobhair.

I see sweet Inish Oirthir,
and far off Tory Isle,
I view the ocean liners
as they stream along in style,
on board are Irish emigrants
with hearts both sad and sore,
As they gazed on old Tir Chonaill hills
and the green fields of Gaothdobhair.