Brigit Bé Bithmaith

English

Brigid, ever-good woman,

flame-golden, sparkling,

may she bear us to the eternal kingdom,

(she) the sun, Fiery, radiant!

May Brigid free us

past crowds of demons!

May she win for us

battles over every disease!

May she extirpate in us

the vices of our flesh,

she, the branch with blossoms,

the mother of Jesus!

The true-virgin, dear

with vast pre-eminence,

may we be free, at all times,

along with my Saint of Leinster-folk!

One of the two pillars of the Kingdom,

along with Patrick the pre-eminent;

the vestment beyond even splendid

vestments;

the royal Queen!

May they lie, after old age,

our bodies, in sackcloth,

but with her grace may she bedew us,

may she free us, Brigid!

Irish

Brigit bé bithmaith

breo orda oiblech.

donfe do 'n bithlaith

ingrian tind taidlech.

Ronsoera Brigit

sech drungu demna

roroena reunn

catha cach thedma.

Do rodha innunn

ar colla císu

in chroeb co mblathaib

in mathair Ísu.

Ind firóg inmain

co norddain adbail,

biam soer cech inbaid

la'm noeb do Laignib.

Leth cholba flatha

la Patraic prímda

in tlacht vas ligdaib

in rigan rígda.

Robbet iar sinit

ar cuirp hic cilicc;

Dia rath ronbroena

ronsoera Brigit.

Image: Kenneth Allen. Hawthorne blossoms, Omagh. Pictured along Hospital Road. 28 June 2009. Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.

Text: Trinity College Dublin MS 1441, the “Irish Liber Hymnorum” Ireland,11th c. (see http://www.vanhamel.nl/codecs/Brigit_bé_bithmaith for more information.)

Translation: Ruth Lebrnam

“Elemental Brighid” by Gail Nyoka

Elemental Brighid, I have heard your voice

and it is a deep, knowing vibration.

You are the keening on the wind, the sorrow of loss

You are the breath that breathes new light

new thoughts, new knowledge.

You are the beating of the wings of a swan,

the poet’s cloak of feathers.

You are the falling acorns of your sacred oak.

Elemental Brighid, I have felt your touch

and it is deep within the beating of my heart.

You are the green grass and the hollow hills,

the crags, the trilithons and the burial mound.

You are the speckled snake, prophetess of time;

You are the Three Worlds united

in the wide branches, towering trunk and

underground roots of your sacred ash.

Elemental Brighid, I have tasted both

bitterness and intoxication

in the flowing waters that are the gentle brook and

the rushing river.

For you are the five streams of my senses,

the flow of the ocean, the deep, clear pool.

You hold wisdom and healing, the blood of life.

You are the delicate bend of the willow.

Elemental Brighid, I have seen your true nature

and I know who you are.

You wear the multi-hued raiment of a changing flame.

You are the bright, strong desire of fire in the belly;

the burning creation of fire in the head;

the heat of the sun and the inner soul.

You are the words of the poet and the bard.

You are the lightning strike

on the living oak of the Druids.

©GailNyoka

2006

Image: Irish Oak, Oak Cottage This tree in the garden at Oak Cottage at Lisnarick is over 400 years old and the girth of the trunk is 5.5 metres. There are surrounding beech trees which may have been planted at the time of the plantation. By Kenneth Allen.

This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.

“Home Blessing” by Mael Brigde

Home Blessing

may your smoke-hole

be blackened

your house-post straight

your cattle strong-legged

            and sure

Image: Kenneth Allen [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons. Interior, Seán Mac Diarmada's House... Although it was a cold day, there was a cheerful warm fire from the hearth. The master thatcher was forming scolbs (pins) or spars to hold the thatch together on the roof. (12 January 2009)

Poem: Copyright Casey June Wolf (2016).