Ouzh skeud al Loar

IN THE MOONLIGHT

 

I went for a walk in the soft night

All by myself in the moonlight,

Listening quietly to the song of the Earth.

The Nightingale long since had hushed,

The rosebush Crickets were all asleep,

The Heath is peaceful when at rest,

Yet, in the lustrous night's calm

Amid the sea of golden broom

There seemed to arise a moaning!

Around me there's no one to be seen

Except the pine's shadow on the horizon

Or do I hear then the voice of the wind?

Is it the voice of cascading water?

The murmuring of the current

The voice of our Ancestors' lament?

It's the voice of our Heroes that rumbles

Within the heath above the roses

In the secret still of the darkness:

"Our life has passed with your step

And has our sacrifice been a waste?

These fields are a desert!

Hear our voices, hear our plea

Wake up now, Bretons, on your feet,

That Brittany may live eternally!"

 

5/21/1970.