Anois Teacht An Earraigh By Raifteirí: Irish Text And Meaning

Another week another top Irish poem. This week it is number 50 which is a poem in Irish. Don’t worry, my notes below explain what it means in English.

Anois teacht an Earraigh roughly translated to “Spring is now coming”. Is a poem unlike any I have shared before. It was written by Antoine Ó Raifteirí (1779 to 1835), better known as Raifteirí an file (the poet).

Blind since early childhood he was one of the last generations of traditional wandering Gaelic bards – playing the fiddle, singing and also composing.

It was only after his death that his work was written down. The poem ‘Cill Aodáin’ celebrates the Irish tradition of welcoming spring on St Brigid’s Day, the first of February.

This is considered to be his greatest piece and this is a person who did not let his disabilities get in the way of life.

I have kept the Irish original below, with my notes on what it says. Enjoy and if you wish to get your weekly dose of Irish you can subscribe here. (I send it out every Friday straight to your inbox.

Irish Poem: Anois Teacht an Earraig(Spring Is Coming)

le Antaine Ó Raifteirí 1784-1835

“Anois teacht an Earraigh
beidh an lá dúl chun shíneadh,
Is tar eis na féil Bríde
ardóigh mé mo sheol.
Go Coillte Mach rachad
ní stopfaidh me choíche
Go seasfaidh mé síos
i lár Chondae Mhaigh Eo.”

I gClár Chlainne Mhuiris
A bheas mé an chéad oíche,
Is I mballa taobh thíos de
A thosós mé ag ól
Go Coillte Mách rachad
Go ndéanfad cuairt mhíosa ann
I bhfogas dhá mhíle
Do Bhéal an átha Mhóir.

Fágaim le huacht é
go n-éiríonn mo chroí-se
Mar a éiríonn an ghaoth
nó mar a scaipeann an ceo
Nuair a smaoiním ar Cheara
nó ar Ghaileang taobh thíos de
Ar Sceathach an Mhíle
nó ar phlánaí Mhaigh Eo.

Cill Aodáin an baile
a bhfásann gach ní ann,
Tá sméara is subh craobh ann
is meas de gach sórt,
Is dá mbéinnse i mo sheasamh
i gceartlár mo dhaoine
D’imeodh an aois díom
is bheinn arís óg.

Bíonn cruithneacht is coirce,
fás eorna is lín ann,
Seagal i gcraobh ann,
arán plúir agus feoil,
Lucht déanta poitín
gan licence á dhíol ann,
Móruaisle na tíre ann
ag imirt is ag ól.

Tá cur agus treabhadh
is leasú gan aoileach
Is iomaí sin ní ann
nár labhair me go fóill,
áitheanna is muilte
ag obair gan scíth ann,
Deamhan caint ar phingin cíosa
ná dada dá shórt.

Anois Teacht an Earraigh is a poem of homesickness. With spring on the way and the days stretching out after St Brigid’s Day, Raifteirí makes up his mind to head home to County Mayo, and in his imagination he travels town by town until he reaches Cill Aodáin, where he was born.

At its heart is his praise of Cill Aodáin as a land of plenty, full of good food, hard work and good company. He says that standing among his own people there would make him young again. It is less a map than a dream of home.

Raifteirí was blind from childhood and never wrote his poems down. They lived on in the memory of the people who heard them and were later gathered by Douglas Hyde, Lady Gregory and others. The English translation that went with this post is still in copyright, so I have kept only the Irish original, which is free for everyone to read.

The full Irish text is printed on this page. Douglas Hyde published Raifteirí’s poems in Songs Ascribed to Raftery (Gill, 1903).