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.
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.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.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.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.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!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.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.
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.- 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.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.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.Suibhne:Though thou mayest avenge it, O Moling,
I shall be no more;
no relief for me is it,
your treachery has compassed me.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.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.
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.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.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.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.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.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.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.
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!Though goodly each bed without guile
I have made throughout Erin,
I had liefer a couch above the lake
in Benn Boirche, without concealment.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.To Thee, O Christ, I give thanks
for partaking of Thy Body;
sincere repentance in this world
for each evil I have ever done.