In his touching message of solidarity with Italy, Louis de Paor recalls the time he spent in Florence and reads the beautiful poem Slí na Fírinne (transcribed below in Irish, Italian and English).
GA:
Slí na Fírinne
Táim síoraí ina láthair,
chomh críonna le bradán Easa Rua,
níos óige ná bhíos im athair óg
is a máthair siúd im baclainn
trí sheachtain
sara raibh beartaithe di teacht
i dtosach mhí ma marbh.
Tá an t-am bun os cionn ó shin
is mé im sheanduine
chomh soineanta anois
nár cheart mé a ligint trasna an bhóthair
liom féin sa doircheacht.
Tá na dathanna go léir
a bhailigh an talamh ón spéir
á scagadh tré shúile linbh ná feadar fós
cén dath is fearr a thagann di
sa solas a théann
ó bharraicíní triantánacha a cos
go dtí súil liath m’athar
a bhfuil a láimh ar mo ghualainn
ar chliathán an bhóthair mhóir.
Tá an leanbh ina seasamh eadrainn,
lóchrann a cinn á rá linn
nach gá aon eagla feasta:
ní fhágfaidh sí an áit seo
go bhfeicfidh sí dhá scáil
ag beannú di
ón áit thall
a thréig sí ar ball
an tsíoraíocht fáiscthe ina dorn.
*
IT:
Al Confine della Verità
Sono eterno in presenza di lei,
vetusto quanto il salmone di Assaroe,
più giovane di quando giovane padre
abbracciavo la madre di questa bambina
giunta tra noi con tre
settimane d’anticipo
agli albori del mese dei defunti.
Il tempo è fuori fase da allora
e io sono così vecchio
quanto innocente adesso
che non dovrei essere lasciato in strada
da solo ad attraversare al buio.
Ci sono tutti i colori
che la terra ha raccolto dal cielo
filtrati dagli occhi di un bambino
che non riesce a decidere quale
indossare nella luce distesa
dalle dita dei suoi piedini
fino agli occhi grigi di mio padre
con la sua mano sulla mia spalla
lungo il bordo della strada maestra.
La bimba sta in mezzo a noi,
la sua chioma una lanterna che ci avverte
che non occorre aver paura:
non lascerà questo luogo
prima di vedere due ombre
che rispondono al saluto
da quell’aldilà
che lei ha appena lasciato,
l’eternità chiusa stretta in pugno.
*
EN:
Hereafter
I’m deathless in her presence,
old as the salmon of Assaroe,
younger than I was
as a young father
holding this child’s mother
three weeks before she was due
on a winter evening in late autumn.
Time has been out of kilter ever since
and I’m so old
and innocent now
I shouldn’t be left cross the road
on my own in the dark.
All the colours
the earth has gathered from the sky
are sifted through the eyes of a child
who can’t decide which one to wear
in the light that shines
from her triangular toes
to my father’s grey eyes
as he puts his hand on my shoulder
on the edge of the main road.
The child stands between us
her hair a lantern telling us
there’s no need to be afraid:
she won’t leave this place
till she sees two shadows
waving back
from the other side
she left just now,
eternity gripped in her fist.
*
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Louis de Paor is one of the most celebrated poets of the Irish language. A former editor of the acclaimed Irish language journal Innti (founded by Michael Davitt, Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill, Liam Ó Muirthile and Gabriel Rosenstock), he is now the Director of the Centre for Irish Studies at the National University of Ireland, Galway. De Paor has worked alongside many of the giants of literature in the Irish language such as Sean Ó Tuama, with whom he edited a twentieth century anthology of poetry in Irish.
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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.