Poems by Gabriel Rosenstock

​Cuan ceomhar 
Cailín beag
ar scútar
is í ag feadaíl
ní fada anois
go mbeidh sí ina striapach
Ón 484ú fear
a tholgfaidh sí
an galar
a mharóidh í
is ní bheidh éinne
á caoineadh i gcéin
 
ach éan farraige
 
I gcuan ceomhar.
Cailín beag
ar scútar
 
is í ag feadaíl go séimh
 

 
Foggy Harbour
 
A little girl
on a scooter
whistling to herself
not long now
 
before she’s a prostitute
 
It will be
the 484th man
who will infect her
with a fatal disease
and there’ll be none to keen her
in a distant land
 
but a sea bird
 
In a foggy harbour.
Little girl
on a scooter
 
 
whistling softly
 

Guí 
Garmhac an té
a bhfuil a shíniú
ar bhuidéal cáiliúil fuisce
d’iarr ar thaoiseach sa Chongó
ligean dó
radharc canablach a sceitseáil
 
Éisteadh lena ghuí
ar mhalairt sé chiarsúr bhána
 
Cailín deich mbliana d’aois
a bhí san íobartach –
Sláinte mhaith!
 
 
A Wish
 
The grandson of one
whose signature
graces a famous bottle of whiskey
once asked a chieftain in the Congo
to allow him
sketch a cannibalistic scene
 
His wish was granted
six white handkerchiefs were exchanged
 
The sacrificial victim
was a ten-year-old girl –
 
Bottoms up!
 

Gabriel Rosenstock was born in Kilfinane, Co. Limerick and studied at University College Cork, where he associated with the Innti group of poets. A former chairman of Poetry Ireland, he is a member of several international haiku associations, and holds an honorary life membership of the Irish Translators’ and Interpreters’ Society. He is assistant editor with An Gúm, an Irish language publisher. He lives in Dublin.
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Weblinks: 
http://www.poetryinternationalweb.net/pi/site/poet/item/6815/30/Gabriel-Rosenstock
https://www.cic.ie/en/books/published-books/rogha-danta-selected-poems-leabhair-cloite
http://www.festivaldepoesiademedellin.org/en/Diario/Rosenstock.html

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