Michael Hartford

Ar Fhilleadh Abhaile Ó Dhún Chaoin

le Michael Davitt

Aithne dhúnchaoineach atá anois agam
Orm fein.
An fada a mhairfidh sí?
An mbuailfead arís liom féin
Sa slua i Sráid Phádraig –
Seanchra caillte le mí –
Nó an seachnód é (mas féidir)
Go dtí aimsir na Nollag
Go mbainfimid beirt Dún Chaoin amach
Seans go raibh sé i nDún Chaoin le mí
I ngan fhios dom.

Deireadh Fómhair 1968

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On Turning Home To Dún Chaoin

by Michael Davitt

Memories of Dún Chaoin
Are with me now.
How much longer will it be?
We met again
In the throngs on Patrick Street –
Old friends lost to me –
Or in the byways (if that’s possible)
At Christmastime
Shalll we two set out for Dún Chaoin
Again?
Perhaps it will make a change in me,
Perhaps Dún Chaoin will be
The secret within me.

October 1968

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Dún Chaoin is at the westernmost point of the Dingle Peninsula in County Kerry, well within the Gaeltacht (the Irish-speaking districts of the Western World). Here’s a lovely picture by Adelle Berwick of the area, looking out to the Blasket Islands. Davitt met the poet Sean Ó Riordáin in this region in 1967, a year before this particular poem was composed.