Cill Chais

An Irish poem from the late 17th-century, lamenting the fall of one of the great Irish houses and the devastation of the land by the English.

 

Irish

English
Cad a dheanfaimid feasta gan adhmad?

     Ta deireadh na gcoillte ar lar;

nil tracht ar Chill Chais na ar a teaghlach

     is ni bainfear a cling go brath.

An ait ud a gconaiodh an deighbhean

     fuair gradam is neidhir thar mhnaibh,

bhiodh iarlai ag tarraingt tar toinn ann

     is an t-aifreann binn a ra.

 Now what will we do for timber,

     with the last of the woods laid low?

There's no talk of Cill Chair or its household

     And its bell will be struck no more.

That dwelling where lived the good lady

     most honoured and joyous of women

---Earls made their way over wave there

     and the sweet Mass once was said.

Hear the poem sung in Irish:

Hear the poem recited in Irish: