Risteárd de Buitléar
(Translated from the Irish by Gabriel Rosenstock)
(Translated from the Irish by Gabriel Rosenstock)
A poem from the early years of the sixteenth century. As his name suggests, the poet was of Norman stock. A note on the manuscript informs us that he composed it on his last day on earth.
More beautiful than the world is Jesus
lovelier than lily or rose;
delightful flower of Mary
among us made abode.
Sweeter than sugar grains
than honey dew on thorn
than the life-full balm of bees
the One to us was born.
Whoever loves Jesus
warmly deep inside,
no other love enters him
until the last tide.
Jesus full of sweetness,
Jesus, Mary’s Son,
you fashioned every water meadow,
each smooth plain, each thorn.
Is áille Íosa ná an chruinne
Is áille Íosa ná an chruinne
a’s ná bláth róis nó lile;
is tú, a bhláth chaomh ó Mhuire,
a chuaigh i ngnáthghaol linne.
Is milse ná siúcra
a’s ná drúcht meala muine
a’s ná míl bhríoch bheacha
Íosa mór, Mac Mhuire.
Cibé a ghránn Íosa
ina chroí go cluthar,
ní théann aon ghrá eile
ann go deireadh an domhain.
A Íosa mhóir mhilis,
a Íosa, Mac Mhuire,
dhealbhaigh tú gach inis,
gach mínmhaigh, gach muine.