Na h-Eileanan Falamh
Chì mi romham tìr nan ròn,
tìr cho ìosal torrach;
bha sluagh innte fad linntean buan
ach an-diugh tha i ’n tàmh gun fuaim nan daoine
seach nan eun ’s nan ròn, a’ chuain ’s na gaoithe.
Slighe chaol tro chridhe an fhadhail,
a’ siubhail air bàrr nan tonn;
ach cuan gar sgaradh cha robh ann,
le tìr gar ceangal a’ cumail àireamh-sluaighe,
’s iad beò le fuaim a’ chuain ’s na gaoithe.
Chunnaic na bàigh ’s na h-uisgeachan
iomadh long is eathar cliùiteach;
eilean de dh’eachdraidh is bòidhchead gu leòr,
’s machaire bhuidhe de dh’arbhair buailte,
seach fàsach is fuaim a’ chuain ’s na gaoithe.
An ceangal de thìr bhon Cheann Ear dhan Bhaile Siar,
air a chall fo uisge is stuadh;
is dh’fhàg an t-sluaigh, is stad an fhuaim,
de chànan ’s de cheòl is àrach na cloinne,
’s a’ fàgail fuaim a’ chuain ’s na gaoithe.
Chan fhaicear ann am bratach de dhath,
’s cha chluinnear nas mò an deò;
an gabhadh tu seo, mar rabhadh gu leòr,
air riantanachd strì dha tìr nan daoine,
seach nan eun ’s nan ròn, a’ chuain ’s na gaoithe.
’N e droch ghealladh dhar dhaoin’ tha san t-sealladh seo saoil,
mar a dh’fhalmhaich eileanan eile?
Nach can sinn ri gineal a tha ri thighinn,
gun do chùm sinn ar cultar is cànan na tìre,
a’ seinn os cionn fuaim a’ chuain ’s na gaoithe.
the empty islands
I see before me the land of seals,
a land so low and fertile;
where a population lived through the ages
but today she is quiet without the sound of people
just birds and seals, the sea and the wind.
A narrow path through the heart of the ford,
travelling upon the sea;
but the sea did not used to separate us,
with land tying us, retaining population,
that lived with the sound of the sea and the wind.
Those bays and waters saw
many a famous boat and galley;
an island of history and bounteous beauty,
and a yellow machair of cropped corn, rather than
the emptiness and sound of the sea and the wind.
The land connection from Ceann Ear to Baile Siar,
lost under water and waves;
the people left, the sound stopped,
of language and music and the raising of children,
leaving the sound of the sea and wind.
We will not see the carpet of colour,
neither will we hear the breath;
will you take this as plenty warning,
of the importance of striving for the land of the people,
rather than birds and seals, the sea and the wind.
Is this vision a bad promise for our people,
how other islands were emptied?
Let us say to the next generation,
that we kept our culture and the language of the land
singing over the sound of the sea and the wind.