Published on 30 June 2024
ISBN: 978-1-915108-21-0
Deasaichte le Niall O’Gallagher / Edited by Niall O'Gallagher
With thanks to the Gaelic Books Council for a grant towards the proiduction of this book.
Bheir Bàrdachd a’ Bhaile Mhòir: 15 Glasgow Poems còmhla
bàrdachd Ghàidhlig Ghlaschu bhon 18mh chun an 21mh linn, le
eadar-theangachaidhean. Cuir aithne air baile gun bhainne ach le
deoch làidir “a’ cur mhnathan is dhaoin’ às an cèill”, caorann a tha
na dhachaigh do phailteas mheanbh-chreutairean agus seann
taigh-deilbh far an do “thilg sinn sgalldaireachd mar eucoraich
Chicago”. Tha gach fear de na còig dàin deug seo mar stad air
cuairt fho-shlighe Ghlaschu, a’ fosgladh sheallaidhean ùra aig gach
ceann-uidhe, “a’ cur nar cuimhne gu bheil pailteas fhathast san
t-saoghal”.
Bàrdachd a’ Bhaile Mhòir: 15 Glasgow Poems brings together the
Gaelic poetry of Scotland’s largest city from the 17th to the 21st
Centuries, with translations. Discover a city without milk, but plenty
of liquor “that makes women and men mad as Hell”, a rowan tree
that hosts a multitude of tiny creatures, and an old cinema where
viewers “spat insults with the best of the Chicago mobsters”.
Each of these fifteen poems is like a stop on an underground tour
of Glasgow, opening up new perspectives at every destination,
“a reassurance of plenty”.
Bàrdachd a’ Bhaile Mhòir: 15 Glasgow Poems (deasaichte le Niall O’Gallagher)
Dà Shùil Air Craoibh
Ruaraidh MacThòmaisBha a’ chraobh seo agam na mo leas an Glaschu:
i rudeigin sean,
rud beag crùbach,
’s cho breac le cnapan
ri tè a chunnaic mi riamh:
at anns na h-altan,
tighead a’ cur nam meur às an cruth,
bòcadh cruinn-thimcheall a crann
(no ’s dòcha air a leth-chois),
mulchagan tòcaidh air a bodhaig
’s an rùsg ac’ carrach, piocte,
preasan air a com,
riofanaich aig ceann nam meur.
Siataig is aois is aillse,
an dùil?
Ach bha mi ceàrr:’S ann a bha i a’ toirt aoigheachd
do theaghlaichean mhion-chreutairean
a bha dèanamh an dachaigh na broilleach,
le ’n drip ’s an sgoinn fhèin
a’ sìor sgaoileadh ’s a’ teannadh.’S ri tìde
thàinig duilleach is gucag is flùr,
a’ sgaoileadh am brat fionnar mun cuairt oirr’,
’s as t-fhoghar
dearcagan dearga,
is chuir mi fàilte uair eile
air caorann an fhortain.*
Two Views Of A Tree
Derick ThomsonThere was a tree in my Glasgow garden:
kind of old,
a bit bent
and as covered with lumps
as any tree I ever saw:
swelling joints,
thickness deforming branches/fingers,
a bulging right round its trunk
(or perhaps its one left),
protuberances like cheeses on its body
with their bark rough and dented,
wrinkles on its breast,
peeling skin on the twig-ends.
Arthritis and age and cancer
perhaps?
But I was wrong:Rather it was playing host
to families of tiny creatures
making their home in its breast,
and actively, busily
multiplying, packing themselves in.In due course
there came leaf and bud and flower
spreading their fresh covering around it,
and in autumn
red berries,
and I gave welcome once again
to the rowan that brings good fortune.
Translated by the author
Niall O’Gallagher is the author of three collections of poetry published by CLÀR and of Fuaimean Gràidh: Dàin Taghta / The Sounds of Love: Selected Poems (Francis Boutle 2023). A verse-novella, Litrichean Plàighe (‘Plague Letters’) is currently in preparation. In 2019 he was appointed Bàrd Baile Ghlaschu, the City of Glasgow’s first Gaelic Poet Laureate, and in 2023 was award the Bardic Crown at the National Mod. He lives on the west coast of Scotland with his wife and their two children.