Songs to Eimhir I Copyright © Cameron Hawke Smith 2012

From the Gaelic of Sorley MacLean

Girl of the red-gold hair
my desire is nothing to you
nothing to you my sorrow
girl of the red-gold hair

Tonight I steer my boat on Raasay waters
breezes gather and rattle the sails
my heart is dumb
with longing for your music
mindless of me
today and all time to come

Dully a mist ghosts over Dun Cana
there is a seething of moorland grasses
a west wind gusts in the face of the sea
a hopeless darkness encloses me

Waves tear a white passage to the seabed
the masthead screams in squalls of wind
Let it scream, I am past caring
for the barren wars of the sea’s raging

Girl of the red-gold hair
my desire is nothing to you
nothing at all to you my sorrow
girl of the red-gold hair