Corpus of Electronic Texts Edition
Buile Suibhne (Author: [unknown])

paragraph 83

    1. Suibhne:Not pleasant is the deed thou hast done,
      O herd of Moling Luachair,
      I cannot go through the hedge
      for the wound thy black hand has dealt me.


    p.149

    1. Mongan:Speak to me if thou hearest,
      who art thou in truth, man?

    Suibhne:Suibhne Geilt without reproach am I,
    O herd of Moling Luachair.

  1. Mongan:If I but knew, O slender Suibhne,
    O man, if I could have recognised thee,
    I would not have thrust a spear against thy skin
    though I had seen thee harm me.

  2. Suibhne:East or west I have not done
    harm to one on the world's ridge
    Since Christ has brought me from my valiant land
    in madness throughout Erin.

  3. Mongan:The daughter of my father and my mother
    related—'twas no trifle to me—
    how she found thee in yonder hedge
    with my own wife at morn.

  4. Suibhne:It was not right of thee to credit that
    until thou hadst learnt its certainty,
    alas that thou shouldst come hither to slay me
    until thine eyes had seen!

  5. Though I should be from hedge to hedge,
    its harm were a trifle to thee,
    though a woman should give me to drink
    a little milk as alms.

  6. Mongan:If I but knew what comes of it,
    from wounding thee through breast and heart,
    till Doom my hand would not wound thee,
    O Suibhne of Glen Bolcain.


  7. p.151

  8. Suibhne:Though thou hast wounded me in the hedge,
    I have not done thee ill;
    I would not trust in thine own wife
    for the earth and its fruits.

  9. Alas for him who has come for a while from home
    to thee, O Moling Luachair,
    the wound thy herd has dealt me
    stays me from wandering through the woods.
  10. Moling:The curse of Christ who hath created everyone
    on thee, said Moling to his herd,
    sorry is the deed thou hast done
    through envy in thine heart.

  11. Since thou hast done a dread deed,
    said Moling to his herd,
    thou wilt get in return for it
    a short span of life and hell.

  12. Suibhne:Though thou mayest avenge it, O Moling,
    I shall be no more;
    no relief for me is it,
    your treachery has compassed me.

  13. Moling:Thou shalt get an eric for it,
    said Moling Luachair, I avow;
    thou shalt be in Heaven as long as I shall be
    by the will of the great Lord, O Suibhne.

  14. Mongan:It will be well with thee, O slender Suibhne,
    thou in Heaven, said the herd,
    not so with me here,
    without Heaven, without my lifes span.


  15. p.153

  16. Suibhne:There was a time when I deemed more melodious
    than the quiet converse of people,
    the cooing of the turtle-dove
    flitting about a pool.

  17. There was a time when I deemed more melodious
    than the sound of a little bell beside me
    the warbling of the blackbird to the mountain
    and the belling of the stag in a storm.

  18. There was a time when I deemed more melodious
    than the voice of a beautiful woman beside me,
    to hear at dawn
    the cry of the mountain-grouse.

  19. There was a time when I deemed more melodious
    the yelping of the wolves
    than the voice of a cleric within
    a-baaing and a-bleating.

  20. Though goodly you deem in taverns
    your ale-feasts with honour,
    I had liefer drink a quaff of water in theft
    from the palm of my hand out of a well.

  21. Though yonder in your church you deem melodious
    the soft converse of your students,
    more melodious to me is the splendid chant
    of the hounds of Glen Bolcain.

  22. Though goodly ye deem the salt meat and the flesh
    that are eaten in banqueting-houses,
    I had liefer eat a tuft of fresh watercress
    in some place without sorrow.


  23. p.155

  24. The herds sharp spear has wounded me,
    so that it has passed clean through my body;
    alas, O Christ, who hast launched every judgment,
    that I was not slain at Magh Rath!

  25. Though goodly each bed without guile
    I have made throughout Erin,
    I had liefer a couch above the lake
    in Benn Boirche, without concealment.

  26. Though goodly each bed without guile
    I have made throughout Erin,
    I had liefer the couch above the wood
    I have made in Glen Bolcain.

  27. To Thee, O Christ, I give thanks
    for partaking of Thy Body;
    sincere repentance in this world
    for each evil I have ever done.