OTR Celebrates Irish Poets

Posted byRebecca BuddPosted inAmergin, PoetryTags:,

I Am

March belongs to the Irish poets.  Ireland’s dramatic landscape, history, language and people have granted richness and dignity to their poetry.  There are so many remarkable poets and poems to choose from so I decided to start at the beginning.

“The Mystery” is considered to be the first Irish poem attributed to one of Ireland’s earliest poets, Amergin, a druid, bard and judge for the Milesians in the Irish Mythological Cycle.   The Mythological Cycle refers to an ancient literary tradition that concerns a godlike people.  Ah, it does sound rather mysterious….

The Mystery

By Amergin (Translated by Douglas Hyde)

I am the wind which breathes upon the sea,

I am the wave of the ocean,

I am the murmur of the billows,

I am the ox of the seven combats,

I am the vulture upon the rocks,

I am a beam of the sun,

I am the fairest of plants,

I am a wild boar in valour,

I am a salmon in the water,

I am a lake in the plain,

I am a word of science,

I am the point of the lance of battle,

I am the God who created in the head the fire.

 

Who is it who throws light into the meeting on the mountain?

Who announces the ages of the moon?

Who teaches the place where couches the sun?

                (If not I)

 

Published by Rebecca Budd

Blogger, Visual Storyteller, Podcaster, Traveler and Life-long Learner

12 thoughts on “OTR Celebrates Irish Poets”

  1. Who doesn’t love the mystical and the beauty of that lovely green Isle? I really like the poem that you included in your post. But, I think my favorite is the famous Irish blessing. I can only quote from memory and may miss a few words: “May the road rise up to meet you, May the wind always be at your back, May the sun shine warm upon you…” The rest of the poem is equally as beautiful.

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    1. We always congratulate ourselves on our progressive thinking, but I have a feeling that there were many before us….the ancients were also visionaries.

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      1. We seem to be always be drawing from a deeper well, every tradition is an open, appreciable secret, belonging to whoever discovers and learns it…

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      2. How very true. Just today, I came upon a thought from Basho that I think would resonate with you as it did with me:

        “The temple bell stops but I still hear the sound coming out of the flowers.”

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