Contributor: Nicholas Jacobs

Bio Note: Nicholas Jacobs is a Fellow and Tutor at Jesus College, Oxford University. His biography may be read here: http://www.jesus.ox.ac.uk/staff/jacobs.php.

Authors: Mendinho; R. S. Thomas

Works: ‘Sedia-mi eu na ermida…’ and ‘The Bright Field’

You could always use R.S. Thomas's 'The Bright Field', which I am sure I've mentioned before as one of my favourite pieces. Or, if foreign poetry is acceptable, the following, the only surviving poem by a mediaeval Galician poet called Mendinho, of whom nothing else appears to be known. The speaker is separated from her lover by the sea; anyone with a little French ought to be able to work out what is going on:

Sedia-mi eu na ermida de San Simion
e cercaron-mi as ondas, que grandes son.
Eu atendendo o meu amigo,
eu atendendo o meu amigo!

Estando na ermida ante o altar,
cercaron-mi as ondas grandes do mar.
Eu atendendo ...

E cercaron-mi as ondas que grandes son;
non ei barqueiro, nen remador.
Eu atendendo ...

E cercaron-mi as ondas do alto mar;
non ei barqueiro, nem sei remar.
Eu atendendo ...

Non ei barqueiro, nen remador;
morrerei, fremosa, no mar maior.
Eu atendendo ...

Non ei barqueiro, nen sei remar,
morrerei, fremosa, no alto mar.
Eu atendendo ...

‘The Bright Field’
R. S. Thomas

I have seen the sun break through
to illuminate a small field
for a while, and gone my way
and forgotten it. But that was the pearl
of great price, the one field that had
treasure in it. I realize now
that I must give all that I have
to possess it. Life is not hurrying

(Quoted from R. S. Thomas, Collected Poems 1945-1990. London: J. M. Dent, 1993. p. 302. Permission to publish not yet granted.)