A blue eye
A blue eye will look back
to Ireland left behind,
never again to see
men of Ireland, nor women.
Fil súil n-glais
Fil súil n-glais
fégbas Éirinn dar a h-ais;
noco n-aceba íarmo-thá
firu Érenn nách a mná.
--Translation by Gerard Cunningham. One of the oldest known poems in Ireland, anonymous, it refers to Columcille/Columba's voluntary exile from Ireland in the mid-500s to found monasteries elsewhere. This kind of exile was called "white martyrdom."
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