Tha Thu air Aigeann M’ Inntinn
Iain Crichton Mac a’ Ghobhainn
Gun fhios dhomh tha thu air aigeann m’ inntinn
mar fhear-tadhail grunnd na mara
le chlogaid ’s a dhà shùil mhòir
’s chan aithne dhomh ceart d’ fhiamh no do dhòigh
an dèidh còig bliadhna shiantan
tìme dòrtadh eadar mise ’s tù:
beanntan bùirn gun ainm a’ dòrtadh
eadar mise gad shlaodadh air bòrd
’s d’ fhiamh ’s do dhòighean nam làmhan fann.
Chaidh thu air chall
am measg lusan dìomhair a’ ghrunna
anns an leth-sholas uaine gun ghràdh,
’s chan èirich thu chaoidh air bhàrr cuain,
a chaoidh ’s mo làmhan a’ slaodadh gun sgur,
’s chan aithne dhomh do shlighe idir,
thus’ ann an leth-sholas do shuain
a’ tathaich aigeann na mara gun tàmh
’s mise slaodadh ’s a’ slaodadh air uachdar cuain.
At the Bottom of My Mind
Iain Crichton Smith
Translation author’s own
Without my knowing it you are at the bottom of my mind, like one
who visits the bottom of the sea with his helmet and his two great
eyes, and I do not know properly your expression or your manner
after five years of the showers of time pouring between you and me,
Nameless mountains of water pouring between me, hauling you on
board, and your expression and manners in my weak hands. You
went astray among the mysterious foliage of the sea-bottom in the
green half-light without love.
And you will never rise to the surface of the sea, even though my
hands should be ceaselessly hauling, and I do not know your way
at all, you in the half-light of your sleep, haunting the bottom of the
sea without ceasing, and I hauling and hauling on the surface of the
ocean.
