Corpus of Electronic Texts Edition

Buile Suibhne (Author: [unknown])

paragraph 45

1. Gloomy this life,
   to be without a soft bed,
   abode of cold frost,
   roughness of wind-driven snow.
2. Cold, icy wind,
   faint shadow of a feeble sun,
   shelter of a single tree,
   on the summit of a table-land.
3. Enduring the rain-storm,
   stepping over deer-paths,(?)
   faring through greensward
   on a morn of grey frost.
4. The bellowing of the stags
   throughout the wood,
   the climb to the deer-pass,
   the voice of white seas.
5. Yea, O great Lord,
   great this weakness,
   more grievous this black sorrow,
   Suibhne the slender-groined.
6. Racing over many-hued gaps
   of Boirche of hut couches,
   the sough of the winter night,
   footing it in hailstones.
7. Lying on a wet bed
   on the slopes of Loch Erne,
   mind on early departure,
   morn of early rising.
8. Racing over the wave-tops
   of Dun Sobairce,
   ear to the billows
   of Dun Rodairce.
9. Running from this great wave
   to the wave of the rushing Barrow,
   sleeping on a hard couch
   of fair Dun Cermna.
10. From fair Dun Cermna
    to flowery Benn Boirne,
    ear against a stone pillow
    of rough Cruachan Oighle.

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    p.95

11. Restless my wandering
    in the plain of the Boroma,
    from Benn Iughoine
    to Benn Boghaine.
12. There has come to me
    one who has laid hands on me,
    she has brought no peace to me,
    the woman who has dishonoured me.
13. She has taken my portion
    on account of my sins,
    wretched the work—
    my watercress has been eaten.
14. Watercress I pluck,
    food in a fair bunch,
    four round handfuls
    of fair Glen Bolcain.
15. A meal I seek—
    pleasant the bogberry,
    a drink of water here
    from the well of Ronan Finn.
16. Bent are my nails,
    feeble my loins,
    pierced my feet,
    bare my thighs.
17. There will overtake me
    a warrior-band stubbornly,
    far from Ulster,
    faring in Alba.

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p.97

18. After this journeymdash;
    sad is my secret songmdash;
    to be in the hard company
    of Carraig Alastair.
19. Carraig Alastair,
    abode of sea-gulls,
    sad, O Creator,
    chilly for its guests.
20. Carraig Alastair,
    bell-shaped rock,
    sufficient were it half the height,
    nose to the main.
21. Sad our meeting;
    a couple of cranes hard-shanked—
    I hard and ragged,
    she hard-beaked.
22. Wet these beds
    wherein is my dwelling,
    little did I think
    it was a rock of holiness.
23. Bad was it for Congal Claon
    that he arrived at the battle;
    like an outer yoke
    he has earned a curse.
24. When I fled
    from the battle of Magh Rath
    before my undoing,
    I deserved not harshness.

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p.99

25. Sad this expedition;
    would that I had not come!
    far from my home
    is the country I have reached.
26. Loingseachan will come,
    sad his journeys;
    though he follow me,
    it will not be easy.
27. Far-stretching woods
    are the rampart of this circuit—
    the land to which I have come—
    not a deed of sadness.
28. The black lake of fortressed Boirche
    greatly has it perturbed me;
    the vastness of its depths,
    the strength of its wave-crests.
29. Better found I
    pleasant woods,
    choice places of wooded Meath,
    the vastness of Ossory.
30. Ulaidh in harvest-time
    about quivering Loch Cuan,
    a summer visit
    to the race of enduring Eoghan.
31. A journey at Lammastide
    to Taillten of fountains,
    fishing in springtime
    the meandering Shannon.

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p.101

32. Often do I reach
    the land I have set in order,
    curly-haired hosts,
    stern ridges.