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English
Translation
De Selby (Part 1)
At last, when all of the world is asleep
You take in the blackness of air
The likes of a darkness so deep
That God at the start couldn’t bear
And sit unseen, with only the inner upheld
Your reflection can't offer a word
To the bliss of not knowin' yourself
With all mirrorin' gone from the world
Still the mind, rejectin' this new empty space
Fills it with somethin' or someone
No closer could I be to God
Or why he would do what he's done
You’re all bright ease
But you come on like night
Tangled;
Together, transformed
You’re all bright ease
But you come on like night
Art is transformation
It is a dark art
You’re all bright ease
But you come on like night
Tangled;
Together, transformed
You’re all bright ease
But you come on like night
Art is transformation
It is a dark art
Cáit_87
kattzzuhEnglish, Gaelic (Irish Gaelic)
Original lyrics
De Selby (Part 1)
Click to see the original lyrics (English, Gaelic (Irish Gaelic))
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Comments
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About translator
EDIT: Popped back to tweak my translation and add some translation notes since this is getting a little traffic.
First version:
You’re all bright ease
But you come on like night
Topsy-turvy;
Together, transformed
You’re all bright ease
But you come on like night
Art is metamorphosis
It(f) is a dark art
Metamorphosis and transformation are interchangeable here, Hozier has used the word metamorphosis a few times when interpreting the lyrics meaning.
‘Together, metamorphosed’ doesn’t run on as smoothly as ‘together, transformed’. ‘Art is metamorphosis’ relates more strongly to the spiritual musings of the English lyrics than ‘Art is transformation’ and the magical connotation of art as a dark art but transformation emphasises the relationship between claochlaithe and claochlú.
So, claochlaithe and claochlú could be transformed and transformation, or metamorphosed and metamorphosis. It’s also used for something transforming for the worse, like the weather breaking. Here, like a sunny disposition clouding over or something bright darkening over.
Tangled wouldn’t be used as a direct translation of trína chéile. It's being used here as a synonym to convey something out of order and mixed up in itself, and the physical / sexual undertone of the verse, better than topsy-turvy. Topsy-turvy was the only suitable word for trína chéile starting with t that I could think of at the time. The disorder that trína chéile conveys can be physical, mental or emotional.
The verbs used here use second person singular contractions, which are not in common use. The use of these contractions give the lyrics a smoothness, especially the susurration of ‘Bhfuilis soranna sorcha’. They might just be a poetic choice for flow but they may also be a very itentional choice, related to Butchered Tongue
'It is a dark art' could also be 'She is a dark art'. Because Irish (Gaeilge) is a masculine-feminine gendered language there's no gender neutral 'it'. However, the English verses of part 1 and part 2 are gender neutral, the only subjects of the songs are 'you' and 'I'.
And so the themes and the lyrics set the stage for De Selby (Part 2).
Happy listening 💚