Rory

by Louis de Paor

Halla na Cathrach, Corcaigh 1976

Milliún míle siar uait
thiar i dtóin an halla,
bhí mo chroí ag bualadh
tiompán mo bhas,
an chruit im chuisle á míniú amach
idir t’ordóg is m’inchinn bhuailte,
gan nóta im cheann
ach an spionnadh a chuiris-se
le sreanganna in achrann.

B’ait liom go raghfá ag tincéireacht
mar sin ar bhuille scoir an tiúin
is tormán ár mbasbhualaidh
ag líonadh fé shála do lámh
a thug snámh smigín dom mhian
ag trácht ar uisce coipthe.

An é nár airís an tuile
ag líonadh ort, rabharta cos is lámh
a dhein bord loinge den urlár
i Halla na Cathrach
is ná líonfaidh feasta an poll
a d’fhágais ar ardán id dhiaidh?

An mbraitheann tú anois é,
ár ngile mearluaimneach méar,
is solas na bhflaitheas
ag sluaistiú ciúnais
ar shúile an tslua
atá buailte le stáitse
ag glaoch ar ais ort ón ndoircheacht:

Rory
Rory
Rory

An gcloiseann tú anois ár nguí?

from Corcach agus Dánta Eile

By kind permission of the author and Cló Iar-Chonnacht

Cork City Hall 1976

A million miles away from you
right at the back of the hall
my heart was beating
the drums of my hands;
I hadn’t a note in my head
only the grace-notes you picked
from tangled strings
as the knot in my veins
was undone by your brilliant fingers.

I couldn’t work out
why you kept tinkering
with the end of the tune
while the roar of our applause
rose up under the heels of your hands
that kept my dreams above water
as you walked the angry sea.

Did you really not hear
the tide flooding in behind you,
the waves of pounding feet
that rocked the floor of the City Hall
until it rolled like the deck of a ship,
that will never fill the emptiness
you left behind you on stage?

Can you feel it now,
our swiftfingered brightness,
as the light of heaven
shovels silence
on the eyes of the crowd
as they press against the stage,
calling you back from the dark:

Rory
Rory
Rory

Now can you hear me?

Translated into English by Louis de Paor