violence & the sidhe
K. E. Dennis
threads, @ the same time our latest Bren [da Danaan] has raised the
question of continuing Irish belief in the power of the sidhe.
Oddly enough, this poem by Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill addresses the
conjunction btwn these two things.
People who live deep w/in the agricultural world don't tend to have
utterly light-hearted beliefs about natural - or supernatural -
forces. They must face brutal weather -like the recent storm in the
West - as well as glorying in the soft mornings & the rainbows. They
experience directly the unpredictability of climate: as when the
ISPCA recently announced there was a national shortfall in fodder
(due to the very cool summer, IIRC) & expressed concern that many
farm animals might become sick, or starve, if farmers couldn't
afford to buy sufficient supplemental feed.
There is disease & death in the world - not just the safe birth of
healthy children; there are accidents & disasters as well as good
harvests & satisfied loves; there are storms that tear the roofs off
houses & swallow up boats @ sea. The otherwise apparently inanimate
world seems alive, & powerful, *both* malevolent & beneficent. This
is what lies @ the root of animism, the most common form human
spirituality takes worldwide.
Sometimes those forces come to be thought of as the work of An Other
Folk such as the sidhe - the beginnings of paganism & of theism.
Often, such beings are shape-shifters & tricksters, unpredictable &
capricious, potentially protective, just as easily a grave danger.
Always, a grim shadow flickers in the wake of the bright images.
They steal the healthy child from the cradle, & leave behind their
own distorted offspring. They help the cream turn to butter - or
dry up the cow herself, so that your own little ones have no milk in
their cups, no butter for their bread or cheese for their supper.
They reveal a horde of gold torcs & ancient coins to a youngster
casually poking about in the earth - & entice an unwary traveller
into the depths of a fog-bound bog.
They loom, menacing, out of that particularly unearthly darkness
that seems to gather btwn the standing stones, @ the portal of the
ancient cairn…. or bound out of that same darkness as a friendly
hound, leading you straight to the distant light of a welcoming
hearth.
They make the hair rise up on your neck, & your heart pound, for no
reason, as you walk home in the hush of a winter night….
& they have been blamed many times over, too, for those things
people do that we prefer to call 'inhuman' & 'unnatural.'
respectfully submitted,
|K.E. Dennis den...@mail.montclair.edu
|My employer is not responsible for my opinions,
|regardless of how sensible they are.
```````````````````````
An Bhatráil / The Battering
Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill
The Astrakhan Cloak
pub. 1992, The Gallery Press
translated, Paul Muldoon
```````````````````````
An Bhatráil
Thugas mo leanbhán liom aréir ón lios
ar éigean.
Bhí sé lán suas de mhíola is de chnathacha
is a chraiceann chomh smíotaithe is chomh gargraithe
go bhfuilim ó mhaidin ag cur ceiríni teo lena thóin
is ag cuimilt Sudocrem dá chabhail
ó bhonn a choise go clár a éadain.
Trí bhanaltra a bhí aige ann
is deoch bhainne tugtha ag beirt acu dó.
Dá mbeadh an triú duine acu tar éis tál air
bheadh deireadh go deo agam leis.
Bhíodar á chaitheamh go neamheaglach
ó dhuine go chéile,
á chur ó láimh go láimh, ag rá
'Seo mo leanbhsa, chughat do leanbhsa.
Seo mo leanbhsa, chughat do leanbhsa.'
Thángas eatarthu ísteach de gheit
is rugas ar chiotág air.
Thairrigíos trí huaire é tré urla an tsnáith ghlais
a bhí i mo phóca agam.
Nuair a tháing an fear caol dubh romham
ag doras an leasa
dúirt leis an áit a fhágaint láithreach
nó go sáfainn é.
Thugas faobhar na scine coise duibhe
don sceach a bhí sa tslí
romham is a dhá cheann i dtalamh aige.
Bhuel, tá san go maith is níl go holc.
Tá fíor na croise bainte agam
as tlú na tine
is é buailte trasna an chlabháin agam.
Is má chuireann siad aon rud eile nach liom
isteach ann
an diabhal ná gurb é an chaor dhearg
a gheobhaidh sé!
Chithfinn é a chur i ngort ansan.
Níl aon seans riamh go bhféadfainn dul in aon ghaobhar
d'aon ospidéal leis.
Mar atá
beidh mo leordhóthain dalladh agam
ag iarraidh a chur in íul dóibh
nach mise a thug an bhatráil dheireanach seo dó.
```````````````````````
The Battering [Paul Muldoon, trans.]
I only just made it home last night with my child
from the fairy fort.
He was crawling with lice and jigger
and his skin was so red and raw
I've spent all day putting hot poultices on his bottom
and salving him with Sudocrem
from stem to stern.
Of the three wet-nurses back in the fort,
two had already suckled him:
had he taken so much as a sip from the third
that's the last I'd have seen of him.
As it was, they were passing him around
with such recklessness,
one to the next, intoning,
'Little laddie to me, to you little laddie.
Laddie to me, la di da, to you laddie.'
I came amongst them all of a sudden
and caught him by his left arm.
Three times I drew him through the lank of undyed wool
I'd been carrying in my pocket.
When a tall, dark stranger barred my way
at the door of the fort
I told him to get off-side fast
or I'd run him through.
The next obstacle was a briar,
both ends of which were planted in the ground:
I cut it with my trusty black-handled knife.
So far, so good.
I've made the sign of the cross
with the tongs
and laid them on the cradle.
If they try to sneak anything past
that's not my own, if they try to pull another fast
one on me, it won't stand a snowball's
chance in hell:
I'd have to bury it our in the field.
There's no way I could take it anywhere next
or near the hospital.
As things stand,
I'll have more than enough trouble
trying to convince them that it wasn't me
who gave my little laddie this last battering.
```````````````````````
Breathnac
K. E. Dennis wrote:
> The subject of children being beaten has surfaced in a couple of
> threads, @ the same time our latest Bren [da Danaan] has raised the
> question of continuing Irish belief in the power of the sidhe.
...snipped, mabye by a banshee's wail...Brilliant insight and gelling of
these two threads together Karen, and an amazing poem to go with it.
Honestly folks, who was calling SCI a "slum" the other day? Maybe it is
a slum but it's populated by pure genius. Was it Wilde who said, we're
all in the gutter but some of us are looking at the stars. That was
written on my Aer Lingus seat on the way back at xmas?
Thanks again Karen.
Brendan
Brenda G. Tataryn
: : The subject of children being beaten has surfaced in a couple of
: :
****Just wanted to say ooops and sorry to others and especially
Eddie...regarding the fact that the last post on this thread
I forgot to go snippity.Excuse me.
Bren*******
--
***Brinlineldstarelda brin****
K. E. Dennis
> K. E. Dennis wrote:
>
> > The subject of children being beaten has surfaced in a couple of
> > threads, @ the same time our latest Bren [da Danaan] has raised the
> > question of continuing Irish belief in the power of the sidhe.
>
> ...snipped, mabye by a banshee's wail...Brilliant insight and gelling of
> these two threads together Karen, and an amazing poem to go with it.
Many thanks for the kind compliment, sir.<deep & sweeping bow, deftly
avoiding crashing her nose into the monitor>
Yes, it *is* an amazing poem, is it not? IMHO, Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill is a
brilliant poet, one of the finest living in Ireland today.
> Honestly folks, who was calling SCI a "slum" the other day?
I think it's always important to consider the source in reading such
comments, tho. I find that much of the most bitter criticism of the quality
of posts in this ng - as in so many others I read - comes from folks who do
little to raise the level of discourse themselves. IMNSHO.
> Maybe it is
> a slum but it's populated by pure genius.
Tho I'd hasten to dissociate my own humble name from such a
characterisation, I think you're not far wrong there. Some of the wit &
writing skill here is really exceptional. (Are your ears burning yet?)
I often think of s.c.i. in the light of a great Virtual Pub - there's always
a dirty eejit roaring something incomprehensible in the corner, right
enough, but there's also many a flurry of great craic, plenty of good
arguments to get the blood going, the occasional bursting into song or
poetry to entertain - & more than one utterly spellbinding speaker holding
forth on matters both great & small, to give you something to mull over on
the walk home...
> Was it Wilde who said, we're
> all in the gutter but some of us are looking at the stars. That was
> written on my Aer Lingus seat on the way back at xmas?
I'm impressed you could read it, if so. I found myself puzzling over the
excerpts on the back of the seat ahead of me most of the way across the
Arlantic, wondering if somehow a phrase of Ulysses had been bastardized w/
something from At Swim-Two-Birds....
But maybe that was the effects of the previous night's leave-taking w/ old
friends.
> Thanks again Karen.
It's a pleasure to share it w/ an appreciative audience.
Coach Pete
"K. E. Dennis" wrote:
> It's a pleasure to share it w/ an appreciative audience.
I'm trying to find a copy of a related one, though without much luck. I think it
started with:
"'Twas many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sidhe....
--
Pete please don't Poeke me in the eye for that one Stuart
http://personal.bhm.bellsouth.net/~taocelt
[Merkin] Football is a mistake. It combines the two worst
elements of American life. Violence and committee meetings.
-George Will
Eddie Wall
Tataryn) wrote:
>Brenda G. Tataryn (wt...@vtn1.victoria.tc.ca) wrote:
>
>: : The subject of children being beaten has surfaced in a couple of
>: :
>
>
>
>
>****Just wanted to say ooops and sorry to others and especially
>Eddie...regarding the fact that the last post on this thread
>I forgot to go snippity.Excuse me.
>Bren*******
GAwd I jsut wish some of the other gits were as thoughtful...
Eddie
|||||| I'll be glad when I have enough. |||||||
Web : Will be back on-line this month.!
ICQ : 8679097
Eddie Wall
<den...@mail.montclair.edu> wrote:
Too many snips to mention....
>Many thanks for the kind compliment, sir.<deep & sweeping bow, deftly
>avoiding crashing her nose into the monitor>
>
Me Too ! I applaud.. !
>Yes, it *is* an amazing poem, is it not? IMHO, Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill is a
>brilliant poet, one of the finest living in Ireland today.
>
I am getting seriously worried... I am starting to like this poetry
shite ( for old times sake I had to say that). It is interesting when
you get the insight and background as well. Its ok I suppose. !
>> Honestly folks, who was calling SCI a "slum" the other day?
>
>I think it's always important to consider the source in reading such
>comments, tho. I find that much of the most bitter criticism of the quality
>of posts in this ng - as in so many others I read - comes from folks who do
>little to raise the level of discourse themselves. IMNSHO.
>
Can all of you literary ninja's spare a thought for us talentless
bastards trailing ( very badly) in your slipstreams....
>Tho I'd hasten to dissociate my own humble name from such a
>characterisation, I think you're not far wrong there. Some of the wit &
>writing skill here is really exceptional. (Are your ears burning yet?)
Worthy of a book , no less.
>
>
>It's a pleasure to share it w/ an appreciative audience.
>
It is our pleasure..... ( just dont forget to snip. !)
K. E. Dennis
> On Mon, 18 Jan 1999 20:14:56 -0500, "K. E. Dennis"
> <den...@mail.montclair.edu> wrote:
> Too many snips to mention....
>
> Me Too ! I applaud.. !
Eddie, I'm suddenly all over dizzy w/ pleased surprise (& probably a bit of
shock).
> I am getting seriously worried... I am starting to like this poetry
> shite ( for old times sake I had to say that).
It's scary, innit? Creeps up on you when you least expect it.
> It is interesting when
> you get the insight and background as well. Its ok I suppose. !
Right, now I feel obliged to append the health warning:
*Caution - overindulgence in the pleasures of poetry can be hazardous to your
virtue.*
If ye have no virtue left, of course, you may happily indulge till you faint.
<listening for the distant sounds of swooning>
> >> Honestly folks, who was calling SCI a "slum" the other day?
> >
> >I think it's always important to consider the source in reading such
> >comments, tho. I find that much of the most bitter criticism of the quality
> >of posts in this ng - as in so many others I read - comes from folks who do
> >little to raise the level of discourse themselves. IMNSHO.
> >
> Can all of you literary ninja's spare a thought for us talentless
> bastards trailing ( very badly) in your slipstreams....
Aaah, now, Eddie, no blatent bids for sympathy here. I'll be forced to do
something to get your ire up to fighting form again - I don't know, maybe
something like quoting 200 lines of one of my own interminable posts in order to
add a line or two of pointless additional commentary.
(is your blood @ boiling yet?)
> >It's a pleasure to share it w/ an appreciative audience.
> >
> It is our pleasure..... ( just dont forget to snip. !)
I'll do my best, O Scissorhands. Glad you liked the poem.
<bowing once more, while wondering how she'll possibly top *this* any time soon>