Wendell Berry: Níl aon dul siar ann

Íomhá Ron Rosenstock

NÍL AON DUL SIAR ANN

Níl aon dul siar ann, níl níl.
Is lú ná riamh anois
an fhéidearthacht sin a bhí ionat.
Is mó ná riamh anois
na beathaí agus na básanna sin
a bhain leat atá ionat.
Cineál uaighe anois thú
atá líonta le go leor a bhain
is nach mbaineann níos mó le ham, a stór,
an uair úd, anois is choíche.
Mar sin crann de shaghas éigin is ea thú anois
i do sheasamh os cionn uaighe.
Anois níos mó ná riamh féadann tú
bheith fial le gach lá
dá dtagann, óg, dul as
go deo, is fós bheith ann
neamh-aosta san aigne.
Ó lá go lá is lú cúis atá agat
gan tú féin a thabhairt uait.
 

THERE IS NO GOING BACK

 
No, no, there is no going back.
Less and less you are
that possibility you were.
More and more you have become
those lives and deaths
that have belonged to you.
You have become a sort of grave
containing much that was
and is no more in time, beloved
then, now, and always.
And so you have become a sort of tree
standing over a grave.
Now more than ever you can be
generous toward each day
that comes, young, to disappear
forever, and yet remain
unaging in the mind.
Every day you have less reason
not to give yourself away.
 
~ Wendell Berry ~