A' Dol Dhachaigh / Going Home

[anteros_lmc]

This poem for Remembrance Day is not so much about war but about its aftermath. It was written by Iain Crichton Smith, a poet born and brought up on the same island in the Hebrides that I am from. Smith wrote in both Gaelic and English, this poem was originally written in Gaelic and you can hear a recording of the poet reading it here.

A' Dol Dhachaigh / Going Home Tomorrow I shall go home to my island trying to put a world into forgetfulness. I will lift a fistful of its earth in my hands or I will sit on a hillock of the mind watching "the shepherd at his sheep". There will arise (I presume) a thrush. A dawn or two will break. There will be a boat lying in the glitter of the western sun: and water running through the world of smilies of my intelligence. But I will be thinking (in spite of that) of the great fire at the back of our thoughts, Nagasaki and Hiroshima, and I will hear in a room by myself a ghost or two ceaselessly moving, the ghost of each error, the ghost of each guilt, the ghost of each time I walked past a wounded man on a stony road, the ghost of nothing scrutinising my dumb room with distant face, till the island becomes an ark rising and falling on a great sea and I not knowing whether the dove will return and men talking and talking to each other and the rainbow of forgiveness in their tears.

Iain Crichton Smith 1928 - 1998

I once borrowed several lines of this poem for a fic (Recant) about Horatio trying to come to terms with Archie's death. At the time I felt a bit guilty about trivialising a really thought provoking and moving piece of writing, but I suppose that's what it's about, learning to live with the aftermath of war and the guilt and absence it leaves with the living.

Comments

[mylodon.livejournal.com]

Oh, that's wonderful. Thank you.

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

You're very welcome. All Iain Crichton Smith's writing is really powerful, but this one particularly so.

[eglantine-br.livejournal.com]

I like that very much. The language feels very direct and spare. It seems right for the piece. Is it the same way out of translation?

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

Sadly my Gaelic isn't good enough to really appreciate this in the original. I can pick out the words but I'm no scholar of Gaelic poetry. The spare direct nature of the language really comes across in many of the translations though.

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

What makes this for me? "There will arise (I presume) a thrush." Drags it right back into immediacy and the person saying it, instead of a collection of images.

also, using it for anything Archie-related is NOT trivializing. Archie may be fictional, but he is not trivial. He is heartrending, and full of big themes that go all the way back to Greek tragedy. So he was created for television. So what? NOT TRIVIAL.

I hope you will forgive me if I don't go read the fic right now as I am feeling fragile and unable to cope with any version but my own revised one.

[eglantine-br.livejournal.com]

Rikibeth, as often, has put better what I wanted to say. Archie is not trivial. He is as real as any fictional being. He is powerful.

And, in my case, and yours, he has led to the lives of real men. Fiction needs no reason, it does not need to justify itself. But in this case, because of Archie and the others, real men live in my thoughts.

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

nd, in my case, and yours, he has led to the lives of real men. Fiction needs no reason, it does not need to justify itself. But in this case, because of Archie and the others, real men live in my thoughts.
Yes you're absolutely right, and what a beautiful way to put it. Archie stands in remembrance for all those who suffered and died, and Horatio for all those who suffered and lived. To me Horatio has always seemed like a man deeply marked by war and loss.

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

I love the line about the thrush too, the expectation that some things have remained unchanged, despite the horror of the war.

You're absolutely right about Archie's experience not being trivial in the least degree. His experience, and Horatio's, are sadly the universal experience of war. I'm just always apprehensive about appropriating the work of really great writers for my paltry efforts.

[rikibeth.livejournal.com]

Generally, I only steal from Shakespeare, and I figure he's fair game.

[lady-branwyn.livejournal.com]

So easy to forget what comes after, when the veteran returns home. Thanks for sharing this. By the way, I was browsing that website and came across a reference to people who were "travellers." Is that another name for tinkers?

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

Yes, I think for some, their war never really ends.

By the way, I was browsing that website and came across a reference to people who were "travellers." Is that another name for tinkers?
Yes, travellers is another name for tinkers, which is regarded as a rather derogatory term in some quarters these days I believe. In Gaelic they are known as ceards and they are highly respected for their knowledge of traditional music, song and poetry. I don't know what the relationship is between the Highland tinkers and the gypsies, there is obviously a relationship somewhere but they seem to have had quite distinct identities.

[vespican.livejournal.com]

These days there seems to be more and more emphasis (and concern) with those returning, and the problems they face.
Dave

[eglantine-br.livejournal.com]

Certianly, in the USA at least, it is better than it was.

[vespican.livejournal.com]

I think so. I have noticed that the UK seems to be more organized and unified in celebrating/commemorating the memories of veterans than we in the US.
Dave

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

Yes, I'm actually quite surprised in some ways that Armistice Day is still commemorated so widely in the UK. Surprised, but glad.

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

And not before time.

[vintagehearted.livejournal.com]

That's beautiful. And, like others before me have said, it's not at all wrong to use this in relation to Archie or any other fictional character, even less so when said fictional character has such connections to real life, both past and present. There were many "Archies" in history; Meridian and Jamie Bamber simply gave him a face and a voice which we have come to love and (to a certain extend) identify with. Isn't that what fictional characters are for?

Thanks for sharing this.

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

Thanks, I'm glad you liked the poem. And I think you are absolutely right about Archie. I knew nothing about this period of history until I stumbled across Archie. Since then I've had the privilege to discover so much about the lives of so many young men who lived and died during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. As eglantine_br put it so beautifully "because of Archie and the others, real men live in my thoughts."

[eglantine-br.livejournal.com]

I found a copy of his collected poems for 5 bucks. I am looking forward to reading it. This will be another in a list of lovely things to read and learn that Following Sea has led me to.

And that is in addition to the warm kind friends I have found.

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

(Late reply is late...)

I'll be really interested to hear what you think of Crichton Smith, his poetry is so very rooted in the island. His writing can be sparse and bleak, but there's also flashes of luminous beauty. He's understandably influences by the all pervasive Calvinism of Lewis, though he himself was a confirmed atheist.

There is one poem in particular called Two Girls Singing which means a lot to me because it reminds growing up on the island as a teenager. My best friend used to sing in a band and we both used to sing on the bus coming back from rehearsals in the pitch dark.