Gearóid Nuinsionn cct. (circ. 1573)
Diombuaḋ triall ó ṫulċaiḃ Fáil,
Diombuaḋ iaṫ Éireann d’ḟágḃáil!
Iaṫ ṁilis na mbeann mbeaċaċ,
Inis na n-eang n-óig-eaċaċ.
Ciḋ tá mo ṫriall tar sáil soir,
Ar dtaḃairt cúil d’iaṫ Ḟiontain,
Do sgar croiḋe fá’n ród rinn,
Ní ċar fód eile aċt Éireann.
Fód is truime toraḋ crann,
Fód is féar-uaiṫne fearann,
Sean-ċlár ir braonaċ barrṫaċ,
An tír ċraoḃaċ ċruiṫneaċtaċ.
Dá n-aoṁaḋ Dia ḋaṁ tar m’ais
Roċtain dom’ ḋoṁan dúṫċais,
Ó Ġallaiḃ ní ġéaḃainn dul
Go clannaiḃ séaguin Sacsan.
Dá mbiaḋ nár ḃaoġal mara
Fágḃáil leasa Laoġaire,
Mo ṁeanma siar ní séan
Triall ó Ḋealḃna is do-ḋéanta.
Slán do’n ḃuiḋin ḟéaġaim-se tar n-éis,
Macraḋ Dúna Doirḃ Ġéis,
Dáin is caoinċe ċláir Miḋe,
Clár is saoire soċaiḋe.
By Gerald Nugent (circ. 1573)
Sad to fare from the hills of Fál,
Sad to leave the land of Ireland!
The sweet land of the bee-haunted bens,
Isle of the hoof-prints of young horses!
Albeit my faring is over the eastward ocean,
And my back is turned to the land of Fionntain,
All heart for the road hath left me:
No sod shall I love but the sod of Ireland.
Sod that is heaviest with fruit of trees,
Sod that is greenest with grassy meadows,
Old plain of Ir, dewy, crop-abounding,
The branchy, wheat-bearing country!
If God were to grant me back again
To come to my native world,
From the Galls I would not take it to go
Among the crafty clans of England.
Were there even no peril of the sea
In leaving the lios of Laoghaire,
I shall not deny that my courage would droop—
To fare from Delvin is hard!
Good-bye to the band I leave behind,
The lads of Dundargveis,
The songs and minstrelsy of the plain of Meath,
Plain of the noblest companies!
Gerald Nugent stood with the Irishry against Elizabeth, probably in Fitzmaurice’s wars. Delvin in Westmeath was the seat of his family, and his chief was earl of that ilk. His ‘Farewell to Fál’ was published by Hardiman in 1831, with a metrical English version by the Rev. William H. Drummond. I omit one quatrain.