Monastic Poems

• The Scholar and his Cat
• He fesin as choimsid dau / in muid du-ngni cach a chele
• The cat loves to catch mice, the scholar loves to pursue knowledge, and they both are masters of their trade as they hone their skills daily.
• The Scribe in the Woods
• Debrath! nom-Choimmdiu-coima: / cain-scribaimm fo roida ross
• The scribe thanks god for blessing him with the bird's song as he writes in the forest.
• The Bell
• CLOCAN binn / benar i n-audchi gaithe: / ba ferr lim dul ina dail / indas i ndail mna baithe
• Sex is great and all, but have you ever heard a bell ringing on a windy night?
• The Lord of Creation
• ADRAM in Coimdid / cusnaib aicdib amraib, / nem gelmar co n-ainglib, / ler tonnban for talmain
• The strongest connection, out of our selected poems, of the incorporation of religious and secular ideas: "great bright Heaven with its angels, the white-waved sea on earth."
• The Blackbird by Belfast Loch
• fo-ceird faid / os Loch Laig, / lon do chraib / charnbuidi.
• describing the bird's note above Belfast Loch
• The Blackbird Calling from the Willow
• INT en gaires asin tsail / alainn guilbnene as glan gair:
• not a bird singing above a lake -- instead a bird singing from a tree...
• Sell not Heaven for Sin
• A BEN, bennacht fort--na raid!
• The abbot is taking a woman's confession. He implores her not to solicit him, as he fears for both of their eternal judgments.
• Question: Does "say it not" refer to her confession or her solicitation? I read it as her solicitation.
• My Hand is Weary with Writing
• IS scith mo chrob on scribainn;
• The poet complains his hand is weary from writing, as he boasts of how wise and beautiful his words are on the page. Dude is feeling himself.