“The Three Hermits”

W.B. Yeats (1865–1939). Responsibilities and Other Poems. 1916.

THREE old hermits took the air
By a cold and desolate sea,
First was muttering a prayer,
Second rummaged for a flea;
On a windy stone, the third,	5
Giddy with his hundredth year,
Sang unnoticed like a bird.
‘Though the Door of Death is near
And what waits behind the door,
Three times in a single day	10
I, though upright on the shore,
Fall asleep when I should pray.’
So the first but now the second,
‘We’re but given what we have earned
When all thoughts and deeds are reckoned	15
So it’s plain to be discerned
That the shades of holy men,
Who have failed being weak of will,
Pass the Door of Birth again,
And are plagued by crowds, until	20
They’ve the passion to escape.’
Moaned the other, ‘They are thrown
Into some most fearful shape.’
But the second mocked his moan:
‘They are not changed to anything,	25
Having loved God once, but maybe,
To a poet or a king
Or a witty lovely lady.’
While he’d rummaged rags and hair,
Caught and cracked his flea, the third,	30
Giddy with his hundredth year,
Sang unnoticed like a bird.

Drink is the enemy.

Cliceéail le méadú.

- Is náma in deog. = Drink is the enemy.

- Car do námait. = Love your enemy.

Sean-Ghaeilge atá á labhairt acu, ar ndóigh.

Na Manaigh san Alsáis & sa Lorráin

Tá an Triúr Manach líofa i dteangacha áitiúla na hAlsáise agus na Lorráine anois, a bhuí le Pascal Curin agus a chuid cairde. Is teangacha/canúintí Gearmánacha an chéad dá cheann, agus teanga/canúint Fhrancach an tríú ceann. Is dócha gur canúintí iad, ó nach bhfuil arm ná cabhlach acu, mar a dúirt Max Weinreich:

.אַ שפּראַך איז אַ דיאַלעקט מיט אַן אַרמיי און פֿלאָט

A shprakh iz a dialekt mit an armey un flot.

Alsáisis

Réin-Fhrancóinis

Lorráinis

Maidir leis an triúr manach sa ghreanadh adhmaid thuas, is é Jost Amman a chum iad don leabharEygentliche Beschreibung Aller Stände auff Erden a scríobh Hans Sachs agus a foilsíodh sa bhliain 1568. Seo é an téacs, a deir go raibh na manaigh i bhfad níos diaganta fadó (.i. roimh 1568!). Nach mar sin a bhíonn sé i gcónaí? B'fhéidir gur mhaith le hAonghus nó le Fergus Gaeilge a chur ar na línte seo.

Wir Münich vor uralten jarn,
Einsidel und Waldbrüder warn,
Lagen in andechting Gebett,
Mit fasten, wachen, frü und spet,

Hofften dardurch selig zu werdn,

Doch lebn wir jetzt anderß auff Erdn,
Mancherley Orden, Rott und Sect,
Da nicht viel Geistes innen steckt.