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about
This beautiful Gaelic song was written by Dòmhnall Ruadh Chorùna (Donald MacDonald) in 1916, while fighting for the Allies in World War I. In it, he writes of his longing to be back with his lover, Magaidh NicLeòid (Maggie MacLeod), the horrifying experience of trench warfare, and his despair of ever returning home alive. One particularly jarring way he portrays the alienness of the war is his insertion of the English word “shells” in verse 3.
lyrics
How sad and heavy I have grown,
my heart in sorrow's fist
since when I took my leave of those
high mountains wound in mist,
and songs of sweetly-sounding glens,
of loch, and stream, and bay,
and that white swan who swims thereon
I look for every day.
O Maggie, don't be sad, my love,
though here I may find death.
Who is the man of all this host
forever will hold breath?
We only go one path—like flowers
grown in the cattle-pen,
which storms of all the year bear down
and sun can't lift again.
I clearly see the steady earth
blown skyward all around
by blasts of shells. I cannot see
for smoke around me wound;
my ears are hollowed out of sound
by cannons' thundering,
but while time pelts so hard on me,
my thoughts on you must cling.
On my elbows in the trenches' muck
my thoughts on you must dwell,
and in my sleep I'll dream of you,
though nothing here is well.
As longings pour into my mind
for what is out of sight,
the hair that grew so red on me
is fast becoming white.
Good night, my love—sleep warm and well
upon your fragrant bed.
Wake healthy in the tranquil house
where salt tears are not shed.
Here in these trenches, cold I lie,
and in my ears death's roar,
without one hope of victory
or to swim back to your shore.
(translation by Alexander Dove Lempke)
credits
from Over the Main,
released January 28, 2017
Written by Dòmhnall Ruadh Corùna.
Dòrain is a folk quartet based in the Twin Cities, playing both Scottish and Irish traditional music. They perform songs in
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