Bonnán Buí, An (Máire Ní Chéilleachair)

Play recording: Bonnán Buí, An (Máire Ní Chéilleachair)

A bhonnáin bhuí that ne’er broke out
On a drinking bout might as well have drunk.
For his bones lie thrown on a naked stone
Where he lives all alone like a hermit-monk.
A bhonnáin bhuí, I pity your lot
For they say that a sot like myself was cursed,
I was sober a while, now I’ll drink and be wise
For fear I might die in the end of thirst.

It’s not the common bird that I would mourn,
The blackbird, the corncrake or the crane.
But for the bittern that’s shy and apart
And drinks in the marsh from the lone bog – drain.
If had known you were near your death
Whilst my breath held out I’d have ran to you
’Til a splash from the Lake Of the Son of the Bird
Your soul would have stirred and waked anew.

My darling she told me to drink no more
Or my life would be o’er in a very short while.
But I told her ’twas the drink gives me health and strength
And lengthens my road by many’s the mile.
You see how the bird of the long smooth neck
Could get his death from the thirst at last.
Come son of my soul and drink your cup
For you’ll get no sup when your life is past.

Máire’s album sleeve notes

[NB: Various sources give differing dates for Cathal Buí’s birth and death.]

In Irish

Cathal Buí Mac Giolla Ghunna (1690–1756) ó Chontae an Chábháin a chúm an t‑amhrán seo as Gaeilge. Seo aistriúchán ar an ndán le Thomas Mac Donagh. Caoineadh magaidh atá anseo ar bhás an bhonnáin bhuí, a fuair bás den tart toisc go raibh an loch reoite. Bhí dúil san ól ag Cathal agus b’uafásach an ní é, dar leis, bás a fháil den tart. Molann sé, dá bhrí sin, do gach duine aoibhneas an ólacháin a bhlaiseadh ar an saol seo mar ná beidh braon le fáil tar éis bháis.

Ba ó amhránaíocht bhrea Danny Maidhcí Uí Shúilleabháin ó Chúil Aodha a d’fhoghlamaíos é seo agus tá amhráin eile dá chuid le clos ar an gcaiséad Carraig Aonair.

In English

This song was written in Irish by the Cavan poet Cathal Buí Mac Giolla Ghunna (1690–1756). This is a translation by Thomas Mac Donagh. Tradition has it that Cathal, who was fond of the drink, had just promised his wife to stop drinking while on his way home from a party when he found a bonnán buí, a yellow bittern, which had frozen to death on a lake shore. He laments the tragic death of the bird and now has an excuse for continuing to drink. He urges us all to drink while we can in this life as we won’t get a ‘sup’ after death.

I learned this song from the fine singing of Danny Maidhcí Ó Súilleabháin [page bilingual; scroll down for information in English] from Cúil Aodha, many of whose songs can be heard on his cassette Carraig Aonair.