DEIRDRE'S FAREWELL TO SCOTLAND
A beloved land is yon land in the east,
Alba[1] with its marvels.
I would not have come hither[2] out of it,
Had I not come with Noisi.
Beloved are Dun Fidga and Dun Finn,
Beloved is the fortress above them,
Beloved is the Isle of the Thorn-bush,
And beloved is Dun Sweeny.
Caill Cuan!
Unto which Ainnle would go, alas!
Short we thought the time there,
Noisi and I in the land of Alba.
Glen Lay!
There I used to sleep under a shapely rock.
Fish and venison and badger's fat,
That was my portion in Glen Lay.
Glen Massan!
Tall is its wild garlic, white are its stalks:
We used to have a broken sleep
On the grassy river-mouth of Massan.
Glen Etive!
There I raised my first house.
Delightful its house! when we rose in the
morning
A sunny cattle-fold was Glen Etive.
Glen Urchain!
That was the straight, fair-ridged glen!
Never was man of his age prouder
Than Noisi in Glen Urchain.
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