An tOileán Úr
The narrative and language of the song is very unusual for Irish traditional compositions, describing the travel of an Irish emigrant through the forests of the New World, referencing the Indigenous people and animals he encountered, and suggest that it was composed in the early 1800’s either somewhere in Eastern North America or by someone who had first-hand knowledge of the emigrant experience there.
Rinne mé smaointiú in mo intinn
Is lean mé dó go cinnte
Go n-éalóinn ó mo mhuintir
Anonn ‘un Oileáin Úir
D’iarr mise in mo impí
Ar an Ardrí bhí os mo chionnsa
Le mo shábháil as gach chontúirt
Go gcríochnóinn mo shiúl.
I made a decision in my mind
And I certainly followed it
That I would slip away from my people
Across to the New World
I asked in my plea
To the High-King above
To save me from every calamity
Until I would end my journey.
Shiúil mé fiche míle
‘S ní chasadh orm Críostaí,
Capall, bó, no caora
A dhéanfadh innilt ar an fhéar
Acht coillte dlútha is gleanntan
Is búirtheach beithígh alltan
Fir is mná gan snáithe orthu
A chasfá faoi do mhéar.
I walked twenty miles
And I didn’t come upon a soul,
A horse, cow or sheep
Grazing on the grass
But thick forests and glens
And bellowing wild beasts
Men and women wearing so little on them
As you could twist around your fingers.
Tharla isteach i dteach mé
Is casadh orm daoine
D’fhiosraigh siad cárb as mé
Nó an tír inár tógadh mé
Labhair mé leo i mBéarla
Gur tógadh mé in Éirinn
Ar láimh le Loch Éirne
I gcoill Lios na Raoch.
I happened into a house
And I met some people
They asked where I was born
Or in what land I was raised
I said to them in English
That I was raised in Ireland
Beside Lough Erne
In the woods of Lisreagh.
Bhí seanbhean insa chlúdaigh
Agus í ‘na suí go súgach
D’éirigh sí go lúfar
Agus chraith sí liomsa lámh
“Mo sheacht n-anam fear mo thíre
Dá bhfaca mé riamh de dhaoine
Gur tógadh mise in Éirinn
I mBaile Lios Béil’ Átha.”
An old woman was in the corner
Sitting cozily
She got up suddenly
And she shook my hand
“My seven souls, my countryman
Of all the people I could have seen!
I was raised in Ireland
In Lisbellaw.”
“Is iomaí lá breá pleisiúrtha
A chaith mé thall in Éirinn
Ar láimh le Loch Éirne
I gcoill Lios na Raoch
Ó Bhreatain go Binn Éadair
Chan fheicfeása a leithéid
Nó ó Chorcaigh ina dhiaidh sin
Go Lios Béil’ Átha.”
“Many fine days in pleasure
I spent over in Ireland
Beside Lough Erne
In the woods of Lisreagh
From Wales to Howth
You wouldn’t see its like
Or from Cork after that
To Lisbellaw.”
Nuair a chonaic mé na daoine
is ansin a rinne mé smaointiú
Gur mhéanar dá mbéinn in Éirinn
Is mé sínte faoi chlár
Nó sin an áit a bhfaighfainn
Aos óg bheadh lách aoibhinn
Chaithfeadh liomsa oíche
Agus páirt mhór den lá.
When I saw these people
It’s then I made up my mind
That it would be better to be in Ireland
And me stretched beneath the tombstone
That is where I would find
Delightful and beautiful young folk
Who would spend with me the night
And a good part of the day.
Adapted from: Doyle, Danny. 2015. Míle Míle i gCéin: The Irish Language in Canada. Borealis Press: Ottawa.
For citation, please use: “An tOileán Úr.” Ó Dubhghaill, Dónall. 2024. Na Gaeil san Áit Ró-Fhuar. Gaeltacht an Oileáin Úir: www.gaeilge.ca.
Audio recording courtesy of: “Rinne mé smaoineadh in m'intinn - Anna Feely” Tionscadal Gréasáin Cheirníní Doegen © Acadamh Ríoga na hÉireann, licensed under CC BY-NC 3.0.
