Кельтские сумерки. Уровень 1 / The Celtic Twilight

”

When I heard her offer I did not linger,

When her talk went to my heart my heart rose.

We had only to go across the three fields,

We had daylight with us to Ballylee.

The table was laid with glasses and a quart measure,

She had fair hair, and she sitting beside me;

And she said, “Drink, Raftery, and a hundred welcomes,

There is a strong cellar in Ballylee.”

Oh star of light and Oh sun in harvest,

Oh amber[56 - amber – янтарь, янтарные] hair, Oh my share of the world,

Will you come with me on Sunday

Till we agree together before all the people?

I would not grudge[57 - grudge – жалеть] you a song every Sunday evening,

Punch on the table, or wine if you would drink it,

But, Oh King of Glory, dry the roads before me,

Till I find the way to Ballylee.

There is sweet air on the side of the hill

When you are looking down upon Ballylee;

When you are walking in the valley picking nuts

and blackberries,

There is music of the birds in it and music of the Sidhe.

What is the worth of greatness till you have the light

Of the flower of the branch that is by your side?

There is no god to deny it or to try and hide it,

She is the sun in the heavens who wounded my heart.

There was no part of Ireland I did not travel,

From the rivers to the tops of the mountains,

To the edge of Lough Greine[58 - Lough Greine – Лох-Грэйни, озеро РІ графстве Клэр, Р?рландия.

] whose mouth is hidden,

And I saw no beauty but was behind hers.

Her hair was shining, and her brows were shining too;

Her face was like herself, her mouth pleasant and sweet.

She is the pride, and I give her the branch,

She is the shining flower of Ballylee.

It is Mary Hynes, this calm and easy woman,

Has beauty in her mind and in her face.

If a hundred clerks were gathered together,

They could not write down a half of her ways.

An old weaver[59 - weaver – ткач] says, “Mary Hynes was the most beautiful person ever.

My mother used to tell me about her. She was always dressed in white and visited every hurling match. Eleven men asked her to be their wife in one day, but she said “no” to all of them. One night, some men were sitting together, drinking and talking about her. One of them decided to go to Ballylee and see her. However, he fell into Cloon Bog and was found dead the next morning.