Ah, my second last poem to cover in my top 100 Irish poems. I only have number one to cover next which I will share in my weekly dose of the Irish newsletter next Friday. Sign up here for it.
This week I picked number 92 from the list.
So what is this famous Irish poem, An Bonnan Bui, all about?
An Bonnán Buí, also known as “The Yellow Bittern,” is an Irish poem and traditional Irish folk song. The poem is written in Irish, and I have added the Irish version below, followed by a few notes on the great Seamus Heaney’s English translation. This poem is quite appropriate for January as many of us, including myself, are doing Dry January(basically where you don’t drink alcohol for January).
The poem, although quite sad, is about a bird (Yellow Bittern) who dies of thirst. Of course, this is where the alcohol-related to the poem comes in. This is particularly noticeable in the final stanza, where the poet opens up more about what the poem is about.
The poem is typically sung in the Irish language and is a classic example of the traditional Irish style of ballad poetry. The song was transmitted throughout Ulster and into Connacht. I also found this incredible video of a woman singing the ballad. It will give you chills. Enjoy
An Bonnan Bui(Irish version)
A bhonnáin bhuí, is é mo léan do luí,
Is do chnámha sínte tar éis do ghrinn,
Is chan easba bidh ach díobháil dí
a d’fhág i do luí thú ar chúl do chinn.
Is measa liom féin ná scrios na Traoi
Tú bheith i do luí ar leaca lom’,
Is nach ndearna tú díth ná dolaidh sa tír,
Is nárbh fhearra leat fíon ná uisce poll.
A bhonnáin álainn, is é mo mhíle crá thú,
Do chúl ar lár amuigh romham sa tslí,
Is gurbh iomaí lá a chluininn do ghrág
Ar an láib is tú ag ól na dí.
Is é an ní a deir cách le do dheartháir Cáthal,
Go bhfaighidh sé bás mar siúd, más fíor,
Ach ní hamhlaidh atá, siúd an préachán breá
Chuaigh in éag ar ball le díth na dí.
A bhonnáin óig, is é mo mhíle brón
Thú bheith sínte fuar i measc na dtom,
Is na luchaí móra ag triall chun do thórraimh,
Ag déanamh spóirt agus pléisiúir ann;
Is dá gcuirfeá scéala in am faoi mo dhéinse
Go raibh tú i ngéibhinn, nó i mbroid fá dheoch,
Do bhrisfinn béim duit ar an loch úd Bhéasaigh
A fhliuchfadh do bhéal is do chorp isteach.
Ní hiad bhur n-éanlaith atá mé ag éagnach,
An lon, an smaolach, nó an chorr ghlas,
Ach mo bhonnán buí, bhí lán de chroí,
Is gur chosúil liom féin é ina ghné is ina dhath.
Bhíodh sé go síoraí ag ól na dí,
Is deir na daoine go mbímse mar sin seal;
Níl aon deor dá bhfaighinn nach ligfinn síos,
Ar eagla go bhfaighinnse bás den tart.
Is é a d’iarr mo stór orm ligint den ól,
Nó nach mbeinnse beo ach seal beag gearr;
Ach dúirt mé léithi go dtug sí an bhréag,
Is gurbh fhaide mo shaolsa an deoch úd a fháil.
Nach bhfaiceann sibh éan an phíobáin réidh
A chuaigh in éag den tart ar ball;
Is a chomharsain chléibh, fliuchaíg bhur mbéal
Óir chan fhaigheann sibh braon i ndiaidh bhur mbáis.
THE YELLOW BITTERN
(Translated from An Bonnán Buí in the Irish
of Cathal Buí Mac Giolla Ghunna)
You’ll be stood no rounds in eternity.
That closing line shows Seamus Heaney at his most playful. In his English version of An Bonnán Buí, the poet finds a bittern lying dead beside a frozen lake. The bird did not starve. It died of thirst, cut off from the water by the ice.
Cathal Buí Mac Giolla Ghunna was a wandering poet from the Fermanagh and Cavan borderlands. He was born around 1680 and died in 1756, and he sees himself in the bird. They share a colour, a name and a love of drink. So the lament for the bittern soon turns into a cheeky defence of the poet’s own drinking, and he brushes off the woman who wants him to give it up.
Heaney keeps the swing of the Irish and adds a few Ulster words that make it feel local. The result is sad and funny at the same time, which is why the song has lasted for close to three hundred years. Older English versions exist too, such as Thomas MacDonagh’s, which is now out of copyright.
Read the full poem: Heaney’s version is gathered with his other translations in The Translations of Seamus Heaney, edited by Marco Sonzogni (Faber & Faber, 2022). You can also hear him read it, with the piper Liam O’Flynn, on their 2003 album The Poet and the Piper.