painting “Tir na nog, Land of the Ever Young” by Tighe O’Donoghue Ross
In Ireland, the mythical Land of the Young is called
Tír na nÓg
Here’s a poem about it by the Irish language poet Sean O’Riordan – translated into Engllsh:
At the back of the house is a land of youth,
A jumbled beautiful space among
The farmyard beasts unclothed, unshod,
Nor knowing the Irish or English tongue,
Walking the way.
Yet each one grows an ample cloak,
Where chaos is the heart of rule,
And in that land the language spoke
Was taught of old in Aesop’s school,
Long passed away.
Some hens are here, a chicken clutch,
A simple duck, though fixed of mind,
A big black dog with wicked looks
Barking loud like a good watch-hound,
A cat sun-baking;
There, a heap of bric-a-brac,
The cast-off treasure stuff of life,
A candlestick, buckles, an old straw hat,
A bugle quiet, and a kettle white
Like a goose waking.
Here the tinkers come uncouth,
Blessing generously all they see,
Feeling at home in the land of youth,
Seeking cast-off things for free,
All over Ireland.
I would go back in the dead of night,
The treasure gilded in the moonbeams’ reach,
Perhaps to see in the eerie light
The child-wise Aesop’s phantom teach
His ghostly learning.
<a href=”https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/mythical/”>Mythical</a>
My Grandpa was raised in Ireland. I appreciate your post. He was a man who inspired many imaginations within my family. Whether his tales were true or not was besides the point of listening to his tales. Thank you for writing.
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