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Read and translated by Treasa Ní Earcáin
Londinium
Cur do chluas ar an talamh –
Éist le beicí an feoil lofa
An clonscairt idir gabha agus rothadóir
Casadh agus síneadh an téad-deantóir.
Béidh do shúile dóite ag boladh
Deatach adhmaid, lán le greim
Amóinia ó mún bréan
Fada thios faoin meid seo tá
Rian díoltas Boudicca
Sa slisín iarann dearg, dóite, mín
Ag scoilt líne deannach agus cré
Scaireach sna clocha is na leacán
Adhmaid, sean tine is cnámha
Anois fáscadh idir thuaidh agus theas
Laistigh don canáil linithe ag láib bog;
An abhainn a cothaigh an Néandarthálach,
Homo sapiens; lucht súil uaigneach
Ag gluaiseacht thall do leath miliún bhliain.
An chéad bhothach, cuig míle deag bliain ó shín,
Anois cathair le iliomad teanga
A uchtaíonn cách a thagann –
Fiagaí, feirmeoir, díshealbhaithe
© Anthony Fisher
Translated to Irish by Treasa Ní Earcáin
Irish
Irish is the only surviving Celtic language whose speakers remained out side of the Roman Empire. It has the oldest literature in Europe afer Greek and Latin. A Goidelic language of the insular celtic branch of the Celtic language family, which is a part of the Indo-europen group.Irish is indigenous to the island of Ireland and was the population’s first language until the 19th century, when English gradually became dominant particularly in the last decades of the century. Today, Irish is still commonly spoken as a first language in areas of Ireland collectively known as the Gaeltacht, in which only 2% of Ireland’s population lived in 2016.[12] It is also spoken by a larger group of habitual but non-traditional speakers, mostly in urban areas where the majority are second language speakers.
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Treasa Ní Earcáin