We are delighted to have received several wonderful contributions as Gaeilge for #WeAreWithItaly. Here’s one of them – a solidarity message we got from Irish poet Ailbhe Ní Ghearbhuigh, in the form of a reading of her spellbinding poem Geimhriú (transcribed below, together with its translations into English and Italian). Watch the video HERE or through the link below.
GA:
Geimhriú
Bolgbhrón
a tholgas
ar fán i gceo an Fhómhair;
chothaíos é le bia,
do dheineas dó cocún
is do leag isteach i bpluais
go humhal.
Tá suan mallaitheach
ag bagairt orm
le coicís
is mé ag alpadh dorchadais.
Ná labhair focal,
ná féach im threo,
tá duifean ar mo chroí
nach n-ardófar
– Géillim don gheimhriú –
Ní aithneofar mé
go péacadh na mbachlóg.
*
IT: [translation by Debora Biancheri]
Svernare
Una pena allo stomaco
mi ha colto
barcollante tra le coltri d’Ottobre;
per nutrirla mi sono cibato,
così da filarne un bozzolo
poi posto con studiato ossequio
laddove c’era vuoto.
Sveglio mi sono ritrovato
innumerevoli notti ad alimentarmi
di tenebre
con un sonno maledetto che mi braccava.
Non proferir parola,
non fissarmi:
qualcosa dal mio cuore
non si riesce a sollevare
– Mi arrendo allo svernare –
Non mi vedrai finché
i germogli cominceranno a risbocciare.
*
EN: [translation by Billy Ramsell]
Wintering
I caught a stomach-sorrow
while traipsing October’s fogs;
I ate to nourish it
made a cocoon for it
laid it with slow reverence in a hollow.
For fourteen nights
some cursed sleep’s been after me
while I’ve been up feeding on darkness.
Don’t say a word,
Don’t look in my direction,
There’s something on my heart that
can’t be lifted
– I give in to wintering –
You won’t see me till the buds start to
blossom.
*
____________________
From The Coast Road (2016), reproduced by kind permission of The Gallery Press.
Ailbhe Ní Ghearbhuigh was born in Kerry. She has read at festivals in New York, Paris, Montréal, Berlin and Ballyferriter. In 2012 her poem Deireadh na Feide won the O’Neill Poetry Prize. Filleadh ar an gCathair was chosen as Ireland’s EU Presidency poem in 2013 and was shortlisted in 2015 for RTE’s A Poem for Ireland. Coiscéim published her first book Péacadh (2008) and Tost agus Allagar (2016). The latter won the Michael Hartnett Award in 2019. A bilingual collection, The Coast Road, was published by Gallery Press, and includes English translations by thirteen poets. Dánta Andrée Chedid, translations from the French, was published in 2019 by Cois Life as part of their File ar Fhile series. She is the 2020 recipient of the Lawrence O’Shaughnessy Award.
____________________
A few weeks ago we launched #WeAreWithItaly, an open call to collect messages of solidarity to be shared on the IIC social media channels, for Italy and indeed all parts of the world confronting the Covid-19 emergency. Anybody with an existing connection to Italy, or who wishes to join the tributes that have been pouring from all over as means to breach the distance in this time of separation, is welcome to follow these simple steps:
• Make a video recording with their smartphone OR write a message and choose a picture to go with it;
• Send the material to iicdublino@esteri.it, using the platform WeTransfer if necessary.
We believe it is extremely important to foster unity in the extraordinary situation that we all have to confront right now and we would be happy to receive your contribution, which will be uploaded to our social media to endorse a powerful message of social cohesion.