Labysheedy

This poem was written by a woman named Nuala ní Dhomhnaill (NOO-la na GHON-all), and was originally written in Irish. Nuala ní Dhomhnaill is a contemporary poet who writes and publishes in Irish as a quasi-political statement; kind of a reclaiming of both her language and heritage. Generally, she simply writes the poetry, and others translate it. This is one of the rare exceptions: she translated the following poem, and it truly beautiful.

Labysheedy

(The Silken Bed)

I'd make a bed for you

in Labysheedy

in the tall grass

under the wrestling trees

where your skin 

would be silk upon silk

in the darkness

when the moths are coming down.

Skin which glistens

shining over your limbs

like milk being poured 

from jugs at dinnertime;

your hair is a herd of goats

moving over rolling hills,

hills that have cliffs

and two ravines.

And your damp lips

would be as sweet as sugar

at evening and we walking

by the riverside

with honeyed breezes

blowing over the Shannon

and the fuchsias bowing down to you

one by one.

The fuchsias bending low

their solemn heads in obeisance to the beauty

in front of them.

I would pick a pair of flowers

as pendant earrings

to adorn you

like a bride in shining clothes.

O, I'd make a bed for you

in Labysheedy,

in the twilight hour

with evening falling slow

and what a pleasure it would be

to have our limbs entwine

wrestling

while the moths are coming down.