Slioċt Duanaire Gaeḋilge
Slioċt Duanaire Gaeḋilge annso síos. Is fada ḋom ‘gá ċur roṁam binneas gaċa ceóil agus uaisleaċt gaċa smaointe dár ḟág éigse Gaeḋeal i n-a ndiaiḋ do ḃailiuġaḋ le ċéile agus do ċraoḃ-sgaoileaḋ i leaḃar. Do ċuirfinn i ḃfoirċeann an leaḃair úd caibidil i n-a dtiomsóċainn a dtáinig ċugainn d’ḟíor-ḟiliḋeaċt le béal-oideas na sean ar n-a canaḋ i n-allód nó ins na haoisiḃ deiriḋ seo le luċt tuaiṫe. Is ionċurṫa cuid de’n ḃfiliḋeaċt sin le filiḋeaċt na ríġ-ḟile, óir is minic féiṫ na filiḋeaċta i ḃfear an ḃréidín.
Má ḃí furṁór na n-aṁrán agus na ndán so im’ ḋiaiḋ fá ċló ċeana, ní luġaide is fiu a gcur i gcló annso. Is é an nós dár leanas ag déanaṁ an leaḃair seo ḋom .i. nós na beiċe meala; óir is é do-ġní an ḃeaċ ṁeala gaċ plannda agus gaċ dos deaġ-ḃláṫ dá ḃfuil san ngarrḋa do ċuartuġaḋ ag tionól agus ag tiomsuġaḋ cnuasaiġ agus toraiḋ di féin, agus is aṁlaiḋ sin do ċuartuiġeas gaċ deaġ-leaḃar agus gaċ irisleaḃar dár craoḃsgaoileaḋ roṁam ag tionól agus ag tiomsuġaḋ cnuasaiġ agus toraiḋ do’n leaḃar so.
SPECIMENS FROM AN IRISH ANTHOLOGY
The pieces to follow are specimens from the final chapter of an Irish Anthology. Such an Anthology, as I plan it, would include all that has been most nobly said in verse by Irish-speaking men and women from the beginning to our own time. In the concluding chapter of it I would bring together such of the songs of the unknown singers of the hamlets and hillsides as seem to me worthy to be placed by the side of those that have been most finely fashioned by the master-craftsmen among the bards. The wind of poetry bloweth where it listeth, and in Ireland in these latter years it has often blown into the cottage of the peasant.
I have availed myself freely of the harvests of other gleaners, but always with due acknowledgment. The fact that a piece has been often published or translated has not seemed to me justification for excluding it. The only question with which I have concerned myself is the question of literary excellence. I will print here nothing in which I do not find the essential wine of poetry.
In the English prose versions I have tried to preserve something of the march of the originals, an attempt which accounts for most of the not very numerous departures from literalness in the rendering.