Ceist na Teangan

Ceist na Teangan

leis an Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill

Cuirim mo dhóchas ar snámh

i mbáidín teangan

faoi mar a leagfá naíonán

i gcliabhán

a bheadh fite fuaite

de dhuilleoga feileastraim

is bitiúmin agus pic

bheith cuimilte lena thóin

ansan é a leagadh síos

i measc na ngiolcach

is coigeal na mban sí

le taobh na habhann,

féachaint n’fheadaraís

cá dtabharfaidh an sruth é,

féachaint, dála Mhaoise,

an bhfóirfidh iníon Fharoinn?

The Question of Language

Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill

I send my hope floating

in this little boat of Language

just as one would lay an infant

in a cradle,

woven

from stems and leaves,

her bottom protected with pitch

as she was set down

among the reeds,

a boat in her own channel

by the riverside.

to look, to know

where the current may bring her

to seek, as Moses did,

a Pharaoh’s daughter to reach her.