Liadan Laments Cuirithir

Joyless
         what I have done:
         to torment my darling one?

         But for fear
         of the Lord of Heaven
         he would lie with me here.

         Not vain,
         it seemed, our choice,
         to seek Paradise through pain.

         I am Liadan,
         I loved Cuirithir
         as truly as they say.

         The short time
         I passed with him
         how sweet his company!

         The forest trees
         sighed music for us;
         and the flaring blue of seas.

         What folly
         to turn him against me
         who had treated me most gently

         No whim
         or scruple of mine
         should have come between

         Us, for above
         all others, without shame
         I declare him my heart’s love.

         A roaring flame
         has consumed my heart;
         I will not live without him.


circa 7th century, trans. by John Montague