You may have noticed this site’s subtitle – Tá gliondar sa saol. Cuardaimis é.
Something I like to do in poetry and other things is leave open-ended questions that the reader can choose to pursue knowledge of on their own. I’m not sure if that’s annoying, or appreciated, or quirky or what; but I think this strategy has worked well for me as a poetry consumer, reading and being inspired and fascinated by the works of great poets such as TS Eliot. One specific example is the poem The Waste Land, where he draws almost chaotically from this multitude of different sources, shifts the set and setting constantly, leaving the reader guessing at what each line or section is actually about, trying to fill in the details and paint a better picture of this tapestry line by line. Of course there is a rich repository of materials and analysis on these poems easily found online, which I’ve happily found myself getting lost in on several occasions. But that’s not really the case for my stuff, so it might ‘hit different’ when its you looking at my blog.
Anyway, I would’ve liked just as much to leave this little Gaelic snippet there and not mention anything about it, so that the path to enlightenment is an exploration driven by you, the reader, and not by me telling you what it means and why it’s there. I also feel like overexplanation of my art (even though in this case it’s not specifically ‘my art’) is a bastardization of the material, or self-aggrandizing. The elevated/amiguous language and otherwise mysterious rhetoric I put into things is more meant to be something to chew on, piece together, have ‘eureka’ moments, or look into it on your own to come to a better answer. For me, that process has given me a lot of serotonin boosts when formulating the ideas behind The Waste Land and other works. But I will now provide this spoiler because, content, right? I can’t have just 1 blog post…
If you like the explanation aspect, let me know and I’ll consider more blog posts explaining context behind some of my other stuff.
Tá gliondar sa saol. Cuardaimis é
This line is taken from a song called The Best is Yet to Come, written and produced by Rika Muranaka and features Irish lyrics sung by Aoife Ní Fhearraigh. The song was composed for the video game Metal Gear Solid, a game from 1998 which holds huge sentimental value to me. This song was featured in the opening scene of that game, as well as the ending scene/credits. The game was very long (2 disks for Playstation), rated M for mature, fun as heck for a little boy, and the end was very rewarding. As an adult, my fondness of this song has developed even more as I analyze it outside of the context of the game, and come to understand what it means and appreciate the deeper beauty of its composition and performance.
| Irish Gaelic | English Translation |
| An cuimhin leat an gra Cra croi an ghra Nil anois ach ceol na h-oiche Taim siorai i ngra Leannain le smal Leannain le smal Lig leis agus beidh leat Lig leis agus beidh gra Cuimhne leat an t-am Nuair a bhi tu sasta An cuimhne leat an t-am Nuair a bhi tu ag gaire Ta an saol iontach ma chreideann tu ann Tug aghaidh ar an saoi is sonas siorai inar measc Ceard a tharla do na laethanta sin Ceard a tharla do na h-oicheanta sin An cuimhin leat an t-am Nuair a bhi tu faoi bhron An cuimhin leat an t-am Go siorai sileadh na ndeaor An ormsa na orainne a bhi an locht Ag mothu cailite s’ar fan Cen fath an t-achrann is sileadh na ndeor Ta ailleacht sa saol Ma chuardaionn tu e Ta gliondar sa saol Cuardaimis e | Do you remember the time when little things made you happy? Do you remember the time when simple things made you smile? Life can be wonderful if you let it be Life can be simple if you try What happened to those days? What happened to those nights? Do you remember the time when little things made you so sad? Do you remember the time when simple things made you cry? Is it just me, or is it just us Feeling lost in this world? Why do we have to hurt each other? Why do we have to shed tears? Life can be beautiful if you try Life can be joyful if we try Tell me I am not alone Tell me we are not alone in this world fighting against the wind Do you remember the time when simple things made you happy? Do you remember the time when simple things made you laugh? You know life can be simple You know life is simple Because the best thing in life is yet to come Because the best is yet to come |
And here is a breathtaking cover + English-arranged version by Destiny Cross, aka ShaDoWCa7, who has since removed the video and the website. I don’t have their specific approval to post this, but talked to them at one point about how much this cover meant to me. So Destiny, if you want me to take this down or link it to one of your pages please let me know! But it deserves more time in the sun!