by Anonymous / Unidentified Author
Translation by Douglas Hyde (1860 - 1949)
Alas for my journey to Loch Derg
Language: English  after the Irish (Gaelic)
Alas for my journey to Loch Derg, O King of the churches and the bells; I have come to weep thy bruises and thy wound, and yet from my eye there cometh not a tear. With an eye that moistens not its pupil, after doing every evil, no matter how great, with a heart that seeketh only (its own) peace, alas! O King, what shall I do? Without sorrowfulness of heart, without softening, without contrition, or weeping for my faults, Patrick, head of the clergy, he never thought that he could gain God in this way. The one son of Calphurn, since we are speaking of him, alas! O Virgin, sad my state! he was never seen whilst alive without the trace of tears in his eye. In (this) hard narrow stone-walled (cell), after all the evil I have done, all the pride I have felt, alas! my pity! that I find no tear, and I buried alive in the grave. O one-Son, by whom all were created, and who didst not shun the death of the three thorns, with a heart than which stone is not more hard, 'tis pity my journey to Loch Derg.
About the headline (FAQ)
Confirmed with Douglas Hyde, A Literary History of Ireland, London, T. Fisher Unwin, 1899, page 467.
Authorship:
- by Douglas Hyde (1860 - 1949), no title [an adaptation] [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in Irish (Gaelic) by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist , "Truagh mo thuras ar Loch Dearg"
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- [ None yet in the database ]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in English, a translation by Seán Proinsias Ó Faoláin, né John Francis Whelan (1900 - 1991) , appears in The Silver Branch, copyright © 1938 FRE ; composed by Samuel Barber.
Researcher for this page: Melanie Trumbull
This text was added to the website: 2016-07-05
Line count: 24
Word count: 196