Lyr Add: Barr an tSleibhe

Subject: Barr an tSleibhe
From: GUEST,Philippa
Date: 22 May 02 - 01:42 PM

Ciarili sent me a list of lyrics she is seeking, which explains my great activity today. Here is one of the songs.

Barr an tSléibhe

A Mháire, tá dith céille ort mara dtéigh tú liom chun tsléibhe
Nó fulaing mise i m'aonar liom féin ins an oíche;
Tá do theach breá á dhéanamh 'gus seomraí geala in éadan
In áit a mbeidh muid go haerach, mo léan, ar bheagán cíos.

Tá na comharsanaí ar gach taobh dhinn is deise tá in éirinn
'S dhá mairtheá ann na céadta bhain níobrbh fhada leat do shaol,
'S go mb'fhearr leat ann ar aon chor mara bhfaighinn ann plúr ná tae;
Go héag ní pachaidh mise chun an Gheata Móir ar#237st.

'Té d'fheicfeadh Barr an tSléibhe nuair bhios an ghrian ag éirí,
Ní bhíonn duibheachan san spéir ann, ná gangaid ins an ngaoch,
Tá an bpoc ar thaobh an éana ann, tá sionnach rua ar na péaca ann,
An giorria ag boc-léimnigh le pléisiúr ins an bhfraoch.

Tá útha na mba ag pleascadh ann ag teacht abhaile ag géimnigh,
Is binn deas ceol na n-éan ins na gleanntáin tíocht na hoíche;
Tá an fear is a bhean in éineacht go gnámhar lena céile,
's an seanduine bheadh na céadta bhain níorbh fada leis a shaol.

Tá coiste bán is eorna ann, tá fataí is rud go leor ann,
Tá cuireadh ag lucht b óthair ann is fáilte roimh gach n-aon;
Tá Ó Raghaille ag seinm cheoil ann, tá fíon, tá brandy is beoir ann
I gcomhluadar daoine móra, is an t-airgead á roinnt.

Tá an still ag rith i gconaí ann, is bairillí á líonadh,
Is cead ag clanna ríthe bheith go síoraí ann ag ól;
Tá an sagart ann is cóire Ó dá bhfuil sa deoise,
A Mháire, déan mo chomhairle, tar is éalaigh liom.

O Máire be wise, come with me to the mountain
And leave me not to pine at night all alone;
I'm building a fine bright-roomed house for you
Where we shall live without a care and little rent to pay.

On every side are pleasant neighbours, the nicest in all Ireland,
And if you lived to be a hundred life there would be too short;
It's there you'd prefer to live -- even on bread and tea;
As for me, never will I return to An Geata Mór again.

How grand to see the mountain top at sunrise;
No cloud in the sky, no venom in the air,
The badger in the meadow, the fox on the peak
And the hare leaping for joy in the heather.

At evening, cows come lowing home, udder-ripe for milking;
Birds sing sweetly from the glen at nightfall;
Man and wife live happily together there
Abd the old do not weary of being old.

Oats and barley grow there, potatoes and all other plants too;
The traveller is invited and all are welcome;
O'Reilly plays music there; there's brandy, wine and beer there
for goodly company with money flowing free.

The still is ever working and barrels ever filling;
Princes and nobles come and drink there;
The nicest priest you;ll find is there;
ó Máire heed me, and come along with me.

From a recording of Máire Áine Nic Dhonnchadha on Céirníní 'Cladagh' / Cladagh Records. Translation by Seán MacMathghamhna. The following notes are by Seán Ó Baoill

'Come live with me and be my love' A poet invites his lady to an earthly paradise where all is peace, sweetness and prosperity. This characteristic folk-theme, heare as ever, is worked out with more praise of the poet's local scene than of the lady he invites to live with him. The tye is perhapes best exemplified in Ó Doirnín's Úr-chnoic Chéin Mhic Cáinte but the song here is less sophisticated and all the more human for that. In Tacar Amhráin (M H MacGuill 1925) the poem is attributed to Séamus 'Ac Oscair from Beannchor, Iarros, Conndae Mhuigheo [Co Mayo]. Séamus, who died in 1847, was the author of several other songs."