Bhailigh dornán daoine ar Ché Éidin
Chun breathnú ar na héisc faoin droichead.
Ghabh duine beag tharstu faoina chaipín liath:
‘Lannaigh!’ ar sé,
‘Dea-shíon ar feadh sé seachtaine.’
Agus is mar sin a bhí.
Tháinig an ghrian amach.
Shoilsigh an solas céanna
Ar Ard-Eaglais Chríost
Ar na Ceithre Cúirteanna
Ar Choláiste na Tríonóide
Ar Bhanc na hÉireann
Ar shiopa beag a bhí dúnta le cláir
Ina ngearrtaí eochracha tráth
Is ina gcuirtí faobhar ar sceana.
Chuardaigh iarsmaí Lochlannach
Is Gael
Shoilsigh ar scoileanna
Ar ospidéil, ar thábhairní is ar phríosúin,
Ar pháirceanna, ar thithe is ar an Zú:
Bhí moncaithe ann is leathadar a ngéaga roimis.
Shoilsigh an ghrian ar shráideanna
Is ar chaolsráideanna duirleogacha
Ar ghúnaí samhraidh na mban óg
Ar an Life
Is ar na héisc
Nár chorraigh ach ar éigean:
Lannaigh ar léir dóibh an todhchaí.
Gabriel Rosenstock
MULLET UNDER O’CONNELL BRIDGE
A group had gathered on Eden Quay
To watch the fish under the bridge.
A little fellow with a grey cap went by.
‘Mullet!’ says he,
‘Fine weather for six weeks.’
And so it was.
The sun came out.
The same light shone
On Christ Church Cathedral
On Trinity College
On the Bank of Ireland
On a little shop boarded up
Where once keys were cut
And knives sharpened.
It searched for the remains
Of Viking and Gael
Shone on schools
On hospitals, on taverns and prisons,
On parks and houses and on the Zoo:
Monkeys there to welcome it with open arms.
The sun beamed down on cobbled streets
And alleyways
On the summer dresses of young women
On the Liffey
And on the fish –
That scarcely moved –
Mullet: they could peer into the future.
(Translated by the poet)