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about

Corie Dubh Linn is one of Darrell Figgis' poems from his book of poetry called the ‘The Mount of Transfiguration’ which was written during his time in Achill 1914-1916.

Corie Dubh Linn is a beautiful lake at the back of Croaghaun Mountain. In 1914 Figgis took part in a production of Douglas Hyde’s 'Casadh an tSúgáin' in Achill, directed by the artist Paul Henry, who also made Achill his home. Incidentally, John Twin's grandfather Johnny Tom Owen McNamara named one of Henry's paintings 'The Lake of the Tears of the Sorrowing Women'

Figgis was a prominent member of the first Dáil and he chaired the committee that drew up the State’s first Constitution.

lyrics

The voices of the curlew crying on the air
Floated about the silence of the hills.
The brooding visage of the mountains bare
Seemed to mute passion of a thousand wills.


From the black waters of the dizzy pool
Cupped in the rocky sharpness of their sides,
Enchantments curled up to their foreheads cool,
Like a large gesture that reveals and hides.


Then thro' the tangled network of my mind
I sank, as down a steep and endless well,
A sudden darkness and a rushing wind
And a sharp terror caught me as I fell.


So I saw God: as like a man may see
The Spectral Beauty and be living still.
His snowy hair flowed thro' eternity,
And his quick eyes searched out my secret will.


Then shining rainbows hid him wholly up.
But a large peace had filled me at the sight:
Like crystal waters in a golden cup,
Brimming above the sides into the light.

credits

from Oile​á​n m'Aislingí / Island of my Dreams, released October 24, 2022
Lyrics/words: Darrell Figgis
Music: John 'Twin' McNamara
Musical accompaniment: Diarmuid Gielty (Fiddle) &
Caoilte Ó Cuanaigh (Keyboard)

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John Twin McNamara

John 'Twin' McNamara is one of Achill’s most important historians, folklorists and collector of songs, poetry and stories associated with Achill and its connections to significant aspects of our local and national cultural heritage. His life has been dedicated to the promotion of Achill and in particular its language, music, and culture. He was the driving force behind the revival of Scoil Acla, ... more

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