Circa Instans (Adv. MS 72.1.3)
Liosta Ìocan sa Ghàidhlig
Chaith mi samhradh le Circa Instans
’s mi nam oileanach, a’ tionndadh nan duilleag
is miotagan geal’ orm, Tadhg Ó Cuinn
a’ tighinn fom aire, a chruinnich a liosta
sa chòigeamh linn deug am Montpelier,
is Giolla Pádraic a ghabh briathran
Hippocrates is Dioscorides,
Avicenna is Platearius
gu misneachail an Gàidhlig,
gun fhaileas den tàmailt a bha ri tighinn.
Dh’aithnichinn làmhan nan sgrìobhaichean
a shoilleirich na h-ìocan an dearg;
is mar a dh’fhuasglainn na giorrachaidhean,
nochdadh faclan às na sreathan a sgrìobhadh
gun bheàrn gus craiceann-laoigh a chaomhnadh.
Dh’ionnsaich mi dleastanas nan lighichean:
fuil is reum, lionn dubh is domblas
a chothromachadh le àile is uisge,
talamh is teine,
is far an iarr iad, bheannaich mi an anam.
Dà fhichead bliadhna bhon uair sin,
tionndaidhidh mi na duilleagan air loidhne,
is mi strì a-nist ri na leigheasan a leughadh –
lìontan damhain-allaidh dha casgadh na fala,
coireal ruadh an aghaidh dealanaich is bàthaidh …
’s mi dol am measg Clann Mhic Bheatha am Muile –
Seumas a chomharraicheas na thug e do Chaitlín,
is an t-Urramach Eòin a shònraicheas
solasan na gealaich
a bu shealbhaich do ghearradh chuislean.
Ma thug seo gàire orm cheana
chan eil mi cho cinnteach is brèid-beòil
’s miotagan gam dhìon on bhìoras
a thog sinn san fhàsach, cho math
ri ialtagan, a’ phangalainn ’s adharc an raidhno.
Chan iongnadh ged a fhuair sinn banachdach
oir is innleachdach ar cinneal, ach guidheam
gun cuir sinn umhail air cothrom nan dùl
nar n-àite fon ghrèin
mus tèid sinn gu dall leis a’ charraig.
Circa Instans (Adv. MS 72.1.3)
a Gaelic Pharmacopeia
I spent a summer with Circa Instans
as a student, turning its folios
in white gloves, imagining Tadhg Ó Cuinn
in the fifteenth century, gathering his list
from other lists in Montpelier,
and Giolla Pádraic who quoted
Hippocrates and Dioscorides,
Avicenna and Platearius
confidently in Gaelic
without a shadow of that language’s shame.
I came to know the hands of the scribes
who illuminated each entry in red,
and as I unraveled their ligatures,
words emerged from the lines
written without gaps to save calfskin.
I came to understand the doctors’ task:
to balance blood and rheum,
bile and choler with air and water,
earth and fire,
and where they ask, I blessed their souls.
Forty years on, in Covid times,
I turn the manuscript’s leaves online,
no longer so quick to read the remedies –
spider’s web for the staunching of wounds,
red coral against lightning and drowning …
and I join the company of the Beatons in Mull –
James who notes the potion he gave Kathleen,
and the Reverend John who marks
the phases of the moon
most auspicious for the opening of veins.
If it made me smile before
I am not so sure now, masked
and gloved against the virus
we’ve lifted from the wild
with pangolins, bats and horn of rhino.
We were bound to get a vaccine
for our species is inventive, but I’m praying
we’ll heed the balance of the elements
in our place below the sun
before we stumble blindly off the edge.