SAINT PATRICK PRAY, PRAY FOR ALL, PRAY FOR ME

By Iván Portela

Trad. Claire Healy.

¿Quien sino yo ilumina la asamblea del monte?
Aimirgin

You, who banished the snakes
Throwing them out to the sea,
Forbidding them to shelter in the flesh
Of the man who regrets in good faith.
You loved him fervently,
And converted Macaldus
On a boat with chains and disasters,
After suffering so much moaning.

You, who started a shamrock,
Who placed the hope in greens,
Who gave far in the mountains
A call to magnificent learning.

You, who wore the sun inside your soul,
You, who held the chalice in your hand
And came with the sceptre,
Walking in the wind or the calm...

You, Saint Patrick,
Who had the strength of a thousand soldiers,
The faith of four Celtic counties,
The charity of the surrounding sea
That does not throw its strenuous tides
Against your Christian, brave people.

You, Saint Patrick,
Whose name is saint in my confines
In centuries and distant universes...
The name embroidered in your cloak
Is the holy name of Erin!

Saint Patrick
Turn your glances right away
To the puzzled World that is preparing
A future that Christ's kingdom
Could reduce in naught.

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[1] Iván Portela (b Santa Clara Cuba, 1944), known as the bard of the Mexican-Celts (Irish and Cornish), writes poetry in Spanish about the Irish and Ireland. He teaches Filosophy, Literature, Mythology in University of “Iberoamericana Campus Santa Fe, México D.F., and has been the radio presenter of his own show “Capsulas de Mitología” in ABC Radio de México D.F.. He has been interviewed by Irish, North American and Mexican publications, and among his published books are La otra cara de Irlanda (México, D.F. 1986), and Cantos de Tir na-Og (México, D.F. 2004), from which this poem has been extracted.