Tá Mé I Mo Shuí ¦ Sleepless (Tu Lamento) le Máire Ní Choilm

Tá Mé I Mo Shuí
(I sit awake)

Tá mé ’mo shuí ó d’éirigh an ghealach aréir
Ag cur teineadh síos gan scíth is á fadú go géar
Tá bunadh a’ tí ’na luí is tá mise liom féin
Tá na coiligh ag glaoch ’s tá an saol ’Ina gcodladh ach mé
(I am sitting since the moon rose last night
Tending the fire and stoking the embers without rest
The people of the house are all in their beds and I am here alone
The roosters are crowing and the country is asleep but me.)

Sheacht mh’anam déag do bhéal do mhalaí ’s do ghruaí
Do shúile ghorm ghlé-gheal fár thréig mé aiteas agus suairc
Le cumhaidh i do dhiaidh ní léir domh an bealach a shiúil
Is a charaid mo chléibh tá na sléibhte a’ gabháil idir mé's tú
(Seventeen souls I'd give for your mouth, your eyebrows and your cheeks
Your bright blue eyes for which I abandoned all contentment and pleasure
In loneliness after you I feel it's futile to follow this path
Friend of my bosom, tall mountains are now separating me and you.)

An cuimhne leat an oíche úd
bhí mise is tú in san choill,
Inar luí in san rí gheall agus 'a saol i dul tharaign aniar
Bhí an drughardeise a mheadú 's a géiri linnear monnaí go teann
'Is nuair a labhair an t-éan bhi realt na maidne ais ar gceann
(Do you recall that night that you and I spent in the wood
Laying in the moon light and the world just flowed around us
The nervous tensions rising and our gasping breaths tightening.
And when the bird spoke, right then the morning star appeared above our heads)

Deireann lucht léinn gur claoite an galar an grá
Char admhaigh mé é nó go raibh sé ina dhiadh mo chroí istigh a chrá
Aicid róghéar faraor nár sheachain mé í
Chuir sí arraing is céad go géar trí cheart-lár mo chroí
(The wise folk say that love is a painful disease,
I didn’t believe them until my my own heart was, torn & tormented.
A painful wasting disease that alas I cannot escape.
It has sent a hundred piercing arrows deep throughout my heart)

Casadh bean-sí domh thíos ag Lios Bhéal an Átha
D`fhiafraigh mé díthe an scaoilfeadh glais ar bith grá
’Labhair sí os íseal i mbriathra soineannta sáimh
"Nuair a théann sé fán chroí cha scaoiltear as é go brách"
(I met a fairy woman at the Rath of Beal an Atha
I asked her could she find me release from this love lock
She spoke quietly and and her words were gentle and soft
"When it envelopes the heart such as this, never shall it be released".)