A haiku double-header for the upcoming St Paddy's Day
Once-a-year rampage,
Wild night of beer and whiskey;
Reeling, singing, drunk.
A tear in the eye:
Ancestral melancholy
Seeps from the old songs.
Friday, March 13, 2009
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Tá mo bhróga i dtigh an óil
Tá mo stocaí i dtigh a' leanna
Tá na coiligh go léir ag glaoch
'S b'éigean domsa 'dhul abhaile
I left my shoes in the house of ale
I left my socks back there as well,
But the cocks are crowing out in the fields
And I must get home before the morning.
I once tried translating another verse from this song into Chinese --
Buailim suas, buailim síos
Buailim cleamhan ar bhean a leanna
Cuirim giní óir ar an mbord
Is bím ag ól anseo go maidin
As
一会儿下兮一会儿上
一会儿调笑老板娘
一下子把钱花光，
便可狂喝到天亮!
Which I think nicely gets the original meaning:
I go up and I go down,
I go and try my luck with the barmaid,
Throw down a gold guinea upon the table
And drink my fill until the morning.
Show-off!
That's a metaphor in the last line, is it? Don't get me started on barmaids.
And why would anyone take their shoes and socks off in the pub???
Re: shoes and socks: Not sure if this was ever done in Ireland, but I seem to remember reading about the practice of removing customers' boots (or maybe just one boot) and keeping it behind the bar to ensure payment.
Or the singer might just have been a few over the eight.
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