Oilithreach Pinn
Liam Ó Muirthile
Shiúil Liam Ó Muirthile an Camino Francés as a chéile ó Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port
go Santiago de Compostela i bhfómhar na bliana 2015. Leis
féin a bhí sé agus a phaca ar a dhroim, ag fanacht sna
tithe aíochta oilithreachta ar a thuras 770 km.
Breacann sé an tírdhreach dúinn agus tráchtann sé ar
na daoine a casadh air. Oilithreacht pinn agus fionnachtain
phearsanta í seo ina roinneann sé linn a chuid smaointe
féin ar an dtír a bhfuil dlúthcheangal sinseartha ag
Éirinn
léi agus a ndúirt an mórfhile Spáinneach Juan Ramón Jiménez
ina taobh:
‘‘Trí chéile, is tír í an Spáinn atá fréamhaithe go domhain
sa réadúlacht, tír bhréag-reiligiúnda í, tír Chaitliceach
seachas Chríostaí, eaglasta seachas spioradálta, tír
phréamhacha agus chos seachas sciatháin … ar an gcúis
sin is dánta
misteacha iad na liricí Spáinneacha is fearr: tugann
siad faoin spéir, faoin eitilt.’’ Coimeádann an t-údar a dhá chos ar an dtalamh, ach ó
am go ham eitlíonn sé ar an gcuma Spáinneach.
Caitheann grianghraif Moira Sweeney loinnir ealaíonta
ar chonair na n-oilithreach. Liam Ó Muirthile walked the Camino Française, a total
of 770 km, across the Pyrenees from Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port
to Santiago de Compostela in autumn 2015. He journeyed
alone, carried a backpack and stayed in the pilgrim hostels
along the route.
He shares with us his thoughts on the landscape and the
people whom he met on his pen pilgrimage and personal
journey. He recalls the work of other poets and the
long-established links between Ireland and Spain. As
the Spanish poet
Juan
Ramón Jiménez said: ‘Spain is deeply rooted in reality,
a country of Catholicism rather than Christianity,
of churches before spirituality, of roots and feet
before
wings … and
for that reason the best Spanish lyrics are mystical:
reaching for the sky, for flight.’
The author keeps his feet firmly on the ground, quite
literally, but here and there he takes flight, Spanish-style.
Moira Sweeney’s inspired photographs illuminate the
pilgrim path.
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