January 2012
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skinks asked: Hello! I was just searching around to see if anyone on tumblr spoke Gaelic, and I happened upon your blog. I'm from Scotland and I'm really interested in learning Gàidhlig. Would you say it's a particularly difficult thing to do?
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Is úar gáeth i ndorus tige na lláech; batar inmaine laích bítis etrainn ocus gaíth. The wind is cold in the doorway of the warriors’ house; beloved were the warriors who stood between us and the wind. (This elegiac verse is recited by Rónán in the tragic tale “Fingal Rónáin”.)
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Ted Hughes :: 'Wind'
This house has been far out at sea all night, The woods crashing through darkness, the booming hills, Winds stampeding the fields under the window Floundering black astride and blinding wet Till day rose; then under an orange sky The hills had new places, and wind wielded Blade-light, luminous black and emerald, Flexing like the lens of a mad eye. At noon I scaled along the house-side as far...
Ah, apparently tomorrow is Diluain Traoighte | Handsel Monday, which is always on the first Monday of the New Year. You give folk a gift of silver (coins). If silver crosses your hands on this day you won’t be stuck for money for the year. Another tradition learned from my grandad, which he got from his Auntie Mary, who married a Glasgow man. (Another Glasgow relative I’ve just...
December 2011
13 posts
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An 'Clár Bog Déil' (nó 'Caiseal na Mumhan')
Is é an t-amhrán seo ceann de na hamhráin is ansa liom. Roinn mé na focla ar an mblag seo cheana, san Earrach táim ag ceapadh. B’ aoibhinn liom fear mar seo a fhaigheann mar leannán, ag a bhfuil ard-mheas don dúlra ‘s dá ghrá. Seo trí leagan dhe; an chéad ceann ó Lorcán Mac Mathúna, an darna ceann ón leabhar ‘Filíocht Ghrá na Gaeilge’ (eag. Ciarán Mac Murchaidh), agus an...
“My mind gets to wandering and I become troubled.”
– Snoopy (Charlie Brown)
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Cabaret Craiceáilte →
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Latha Naomh Anndra sona! →
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November 2011
19 posts
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An Seann Òran
Tha mo chom a’ seinn rid bhòidhche
‘s mo chuislean ‘g èigheach luathghair:
tha m’ fhuil uile mar fhìon cròiceach
a’ cur thairis cuaiche:
fa do chomhair, a thè bhòidheach,
‘na mo cheann dà mhìle smeòrach
ann an coille òig ri ceileir:
‘na mo chluais deich mìle seillean.
Tha mo chom ri mire-chatha,
armailt fo bhrat buadhach,
Goll is Fionn a’...
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“Kiss me, and you will see how important I am”
– Sylvia Plath
Ditto! ;)
diaspora* :: blow on the dandelion! →
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The eternally present & fleeting fugitive prey of...
[It is not] by absence of mind and dreaming that one can impose on speech such precious and rare arrangements. The true condition of a true poet is as distinct as possible from the state of dreaming. I see in it only willed inquiry, suppleness of thought, the soul’s assent to exquisite constraints, and the perpetual triumph of sacrifice. It is the very one who wants to write...
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“Talk some, write some,
keep some in the archives
of the heart”
– John Agard
Recent reflection →
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I feel that politics and linguistics have really bullied my spirit for inspiration of late. I feel so strongly about political justice, and yet it doesn’t seem to prompt a creative response in me. I look at Somhairle MacGill-Eain, who wrote fantastic poems of great political conviction and passion, and I feel that my inability to write on the subject is a failing on my part. I would like to...
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“Is poll dubh dóite é an t-uaigness, ach má dhúnann tú suas é, dúnfaidh tú amach...”
– (via misledghost)
“The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source...”
– Albert Einstein (via jonathanmoore)
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Somhairle: "Gabh a-mach às mo bhàrdachd"!
This comes from the poet who visited me in a dream and told me not to cry over love, because “tears are wasted poetry”. (Beannachdan dha anam!)
Gabh a-mach às mo bhàrdachd,
’s tu mo chuthach, aodainn àlainn,
trìd nach tug mi ‘n t-suim bu chòir dhomh
do churachd is do fhàs nan dòchas
no do ghnìomhadh nan rann seòlta.
Cha d’ rinn mi leat mar bu chaomh leam
an...
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October 2011
61 posts
Air thòir Somhairle! →
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The Clearances and the attempt to clear us out...
I’m currently chomping my way through Warriors of the Word: The World of the Scottish Highlanders by Michael Newton, a highly fascinating book on Gaelic history and culture. As I read through a summarised but highly informative and engaging account of Highland history, I couldn’t help but think of the current situation we find ourselves in, with our corporate governments and banking...
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“Herr God, Herr Lucifer
Beware
Beware.
Out of the ash
I rise with my red...”
– Sylvia Plath, ‘Lady Lazarus’
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“Books are the carriers of civilization. Without books, history is silent,...”
– Barbara W. Tuchman
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