Translations for Shepherd Moons

All lyrics are by Roma Ryan unless otherwise noted.

Comments on the inspiration and meaning of these songs can be found in Roma Ryan's foreword to the Shepherd Moons sheet music book. These comments are available in The Enya Papers #22, available on the Enya Unofficial Home Page, in the transcripts area.

Some of the mystical incantations, which begin or end songs, may not be included in these translations.


How Can I Keep From Singing?

Traditional Shaker Hymn
My life goes on in endless song
above earth's lamentations,
I hear the real, though far-off hymn
that hails a new creation.

Through all the tumult and the strife
I hear its music ringing,
it sounds an echo in my soul.
How can I keep from singing?

While though the tempest loudly roars, [1]
I hear the truth it liveth.
And though the darkness 'round me close,
songs in the night it giveth.

No storm can shake my inmost calm
While to that rock I'm clinging.
Since love is lord of heaven and earth,
how can I keep from singing?

When tyrants tremble in their fear
and hear their death knell ringing,
when friends rejoice both far and near
how can I keep from singing?

In prison cell and dungeon vile
our thoughts to them are winging,
when friends by shame are undefiled
how can I keep from singing?

  1. The lyrics printed in Shepherd Moons are missing the second verse (the third and fourth blocks of text).

Ebudæ

Irish Gaelic
Amharc, mná ag obair lá 's mall san oích',
Ceolann siad ar laetha geal, a bhí,
Bealach fada anonn 's anall a chóich'.
Look, women working by day and late at night,
They sing of bright days that were,
A long way back and forth forever.
  1. The Hebrides, or Western Isles, of Scotland were known as the Hebudæ or the Ebudæ in ancient times. The name is of Latin origin, appearing on ancient maps of Roman Britain.
  2. This song is loosely based on the traditional "waulking songs" sung by women and used when fulling cloth. Waulking songs are unique to the Outer Hebrides.

Book of Days

Irish Gaelic
Ó lá go lá, mo thuras,
An bealach fada romham.
Ó oíche go hoíche, mo thuras,
na scéalta nach mbeidh a choích'.
From day to day, my journey,
The long pilgrimage before me.
From night to night, my journey,
The stories that will never be again.

Book of Days - Far and Away

English & Irish Gaelic
One day, one night, one moment
My dreams could be tomorrow
One step, one fall, one falter
East or west
Over earth or by ocean
One way to be my journey
This way could be my Book of Days

Ó lá go lá, mo thuras,
An bealach fada romham.
Ó oíche go hoíche, mo thuras,
na scéalta nach mbeidh a choích'.

No day, no night, no moment
Can hold me back from trying
I'll flag, I'll fall, I'll falter
I'll find my day may be Far and Away
Far and Away

Interlude

One day, one night, one moment
With a dream to be leaving
One step, one fall, one falter
And a new earth across a wide ocean
This way became my journey
This day ends together, Far and Away

This day ends together, Far and Away
Far and Away

  1. This version was produced for and released with the soundtrack for the movie Far and Away, starring Tom Cruise & Nicole Kidman.
  2. This version of the song has been released in place of the original version in recent pressings of Shepherd Moons.

Afer Ventus

Latin
Afer Ventus [1]
African Wind
Mare Nubium. Umbriel.
Mare Imbrium. Ariel.
Et itur ad astra.
Et itur ad astra.
Mare Undarum. Io. Vela.

Mirabile dictu. Mirabilia.
Mirabile visu. Mirabilia.
Et itur ad astra.
Et itur ad astra.
Sempervirent. Rosetum.

Afer Ventus. Zephyrus.
Volturnus. Africus.
Et itur ad astra.
Et itur ad astra.
Etesiarum. Eurus.

Running verse:
Suus cuique mos. Suum cuique.
Meus mihi, suus cuique carus.
Mememto, terrigena.
Mememto, vita brevis.
Meus mihi, suus cuique carus.

Sea of Clouds. Umbriel. [2] [3]
Sea of Showers. Ariel.
And we go to the stars. [4] [5]
And we go to the stars.
Sea of Waves. Io. Vela. [6] [7]

Wonderful to relate. Marvels. [8]
Wonderful to see. Wonders.
And we go to the stars.
And we go to the stars.
Evergreen. A rose garden. [9]

African Wind. Zephyrus. [10]
Volturnus. Africus. [11] [12]
And we go to the stars.
And we go to the stars.
Etesiarum. Eurus. [13] [14]


Each has its own habits. Each its own. [15]
Mine to me, its own to each is dear. [16]
Remember, life is earth-born. [17]
Remember, it is brief.
Mine to me, its own to each is dear.

  1. Ventus may refer to either a wind (particularly a named wind, personified as a deity) or a wind as affecting a voyage favorably or otherwise by direction.
  2. Umbriel and Ariel are two moons of Uranus. In addition, Umbriel is a character in Alexander Pope's The Rape of the Lock and Ariel is the name of "an airy Spirit" in Shakespeare's The Tempest.
  3. All of the different "maria" (Mare Nubium, Mare Imbrium, and Mare Undarum) are geographical features of the moon (lunar seas).
  4. It is difficult to put into English the "impersonal" meaning of "itur", which is actually the third person singular of the passive indicative present tense of the verb "ire", meaning "to go". Since "to go" cannot possibly be passive ("I am gone?") the passive mode is understood to sound as done by everybody and nobody in particular at the same time, really like something that gets done but without specifying by whom.
  5. There is a famous phrase in Virgil's Aeneid which reads "sic itur ad astra" which has a literal meaning "thus you shall go to the stars", but the poetic, metaphorical meaning is "thus is immortality gained". So substituting "et" ("and", "also") for "sic" ("thus", "therefore") the translation might read along the lines of "and you shall go to the stars" or perhaps "and you shall live forever".
  6. Vela ("a boat's sail") refers to the constellation Vela, representing the sails of the ship Argo.
  7. Io: a maiden loved by Zeus, who changed her into a heifer so that she might escape the jealous rage of Hera [Lat. < Gk. Io], also one of the four inner Galilean moons of Jupiter.
  8. Mirabilia: neuter pl. marvelous things.
  9. Sempervirent: always green [Lat. semper, always + virere, to be green.]
  10. Zephyrus: a god personifying the gentle west wind [Lat. < Gk. Zephuros.]
  11. Volturnus: a god personifying the southeast wind.
  12. Africus: a god personifying the southwest storm-rain wind.
  13. Etesiarum: pl. of Etesian. recurring annually. It is used of prevailing northerly summer winds of the Mediterranean [Lat. etesius < Gk. etesius < etos, year.]
  14. Eurus: a god personifying the east or southeast wind [Lat. < Gk. Euros.]
  15. Latin likes to take the adjective that corresponds to a set and postpone it to go with the last member of that set (English puts it with the first member). So a more idiomatic rendering in English might be: "To each, its/his/her own custom is dear; to each, its/his/her own."
  16. And likewise: "To me, my own is dear. To each its/his/her own."
  17. terrigena: earth-born creature [Lat. terra, earth + genus, race or kind.]

Due to the nearly exhaustive discussion included above, submissions for additional comments on "Afer Ventus" will probably not be accepted. The reader is encouraged to do his or her own research into Roman and Greek mythology if more information is desired.

Smaointe...

Irish Gaelic
Smaointe...
A Thought...
(D'Aodh Agus Do Mháire Uí Dhúgain)


Éist le mo chroí,
Go brónach a choích'
Tá mé caillte gan tú
's do bhean chéile.
An grá mór i do shaoil
Treoraí sé mé.
Bígí liomsa i gcónaí
Lá 's oích'.

Curfá:
Ag caoineadh ar an uaigneas mór
Na deora, go brónach
'Na gcodladh ins an uaigh ghlas chiúin
Faoi shuaimhneas, go domhain.

Aoibhneas a bhí
Ach d'imigh sin
Sé lean tú
Do fhear chéile.
An grá mór i do shaoil
Treoraí sé mé.
Bígí liomsa i gcónaí
Lá 's oích'.

Curfá

Smaointe, ar an lá
'Raibh sibh ar mo thaobh
Ag inse scéil
Ar an dóigh a bhí
Is cuimhin liom an lá
Gan ghá 's gan ghruaim
Bígí liomsa i gcónaí
Lá 's oích'.

(To my maternal grandparents,
literally: "For Hugh and Mary Duggan")

Listen to my heart,
Forever sad
I'm lost without you
and your wife.
The great love in your lives [1]
Will guide me.
Be (plural) with me always
Day and night.

Chorus:
Weeping due to the great loneliness
The tears, sorrowfully
Asleep in the quiet green grave
In a deep peace.

There was blissfulness
But that is gone
You followed
Your husband.
The great love in your lives
Will guide me.
Be (plural) with me always
Day and night.

Chorus

A thought, on the day
You were (both) at my side
Telling tales
Of how things were.
I remember the day
Carefree and happy [2]
Be (plural) with me always
Day and night.

  1. The meaning of this phrase in this context is "the love that was shown by the two of you".
  2. Literally "without need and without gloom".



Credits

How Can I Keep From Singing?
Missing verse transcripted by Jagg Groeg. Remainder transcripted by Daniel Quinlan.
Ebudæ
Translation by Dr. N. Stenson (posted by David Saranen). Notes by Gesine Dagmar Stanienda and Daniel Quinlan.
Book of Days
Translation by Dave Allum.
Book of Days - Far and Away
Posted by Martin Falatic and others. Corrections from several different people.
Afer Ventus
Translation and notes by Larry M. Jordan, Magnus Olsson, Mauro Cicognini, Custodio, Giles Armstrong, Konrad Schroder, Aidan Hollinshead, Edith Hamilton (posted by Nate Scherer), Graham at the University of Delaware, and unknown persons. Notes later completely reworked by Daniel Quinlan.
Smaointe...
Text taken from translations by Steve Hopper and Dr. N. Stenson (posted by David Saranen). Notes by Aidan Hollinshead. Numerous corrections from Willie Arbuckle.


Index | The Celts | Watermark | Shepherd Moons | The Memory of Trees | A Day Without Rain | Singles

14 October 1996 - Maintained by Daniel Quinlan