Oiche Nollaig na mBan

Oiche Nollaig na mBan (‘The Night Of Women’s Christmas’), Sean O'Riordain (1916-77)

There was fury in the storm that came last night last night,
The night of the Christmas of Women;
It came as if released from a distant bedlam
A lunatic shriek howling through the sky;
Rattling against the gate like the gaggling of geese
Roaring up the river like a bellowing bull
Dousing my candle like a blow upon my mouth :-
An unexpected spark for anger

I hope such a storm will come to me
The night I begin to die
As I return home from the dance of life
With the light of this life sputtering out,
So every moment might be filled with cries from the sky,
Transforming the world into a chorus of screams,
So I would not hear the silence moving toward me
Or feel the engine that moves me stop

(Translated from the original Irish by Sarah Lundberg and Oran Ryan)