(no subject)

[arethinn]

Can anyone out there find a version of "Cean Dubh Dilis" (roughly "My Black-haired Darling") in Irish? I can find tons of references to a 19th century translation by Samuel Ferguson, but next best I see is this version by Anúna which I have no idea how close it is to the original or this reworking which, interestingly, is apparently by a gay poet.

Comments

[jarandhel.livejournal.com]

I'm afraid I can't find an original irish version, but I can find Ferguson's translation into English here. There are also english lyrics for an Irish Rebel song by that name by a William Rooney here, which is mentioned in the book

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I'm afraid I can't find an original irish version, but I can find Ferguson's translation into English <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=DzRDAAAAIAAJ&dq=%22Ceann%20Dubh%20D%C3%ADlis%22&as_brr=1&pg=PA178#v=onepage&q=&f=false">here</a>. There are also english lyrics for an Irish Rebel song by that name by a William Rooney <a href="http://martindardis.com/irish_rebel_songs.html">here</a>, which is mentioned in the book <a href="http://books.google.com/books?um=1&as_brr=0&q="Ceann%20Dubh%20Dílis"%20Rooney&btnG=Search%20Books">Poetry of Irish History</a> circa 1927. <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=MVoOAAAAYAAJ&dq=A%20CHEANN%20DUBH%20DILIS&as_brr=4&pg=PA36#v=onepage&q=&f=false">Here</a> is another version circa 1910 via Songs and Ballads by Patrick Joseph McCall. I don't know if any of that helps or not, there seems to be wide variation among the English lyrics.

[starlightforest.livejournal.com]

Your HTML is borked.

I can find Ferguson's translation into English here.

Yes, there's tons of that everywhere, as I said. I'm trying to find the thing he was translating.

There are also english lyrics for an Irish Rebel song by that name by a William Rooney here

It appears to be another take off on the phrase itself:

O Dear Dark Head, bowed low in death's black sorrow,
Let not thy heart be tramelled in despair;
Lift, lift thine eyes unto the radiant morrow,
And wait the light that surely shall break there.

"Dear dark head" appears to be a phrase usable in multiple contexts and around which several people have written songs or poems, but I'm looking for Ferguson's source.