The Midnight Court and other poems
by Brian Merriman et al
Translated by David Marcus
Full of humour and sarcasm, the Midnight Court is written in Rhyming Couplets and directed at the desire of women to get married
young. The poet in a dream is forced by a fairy woman to visit the Court of Queen Aeval. Here he must listen to serious charges being
made against the male sex including the clergy.
“Another thing I’d like to mention,
That’s beyond my comprehension –
Whatever made the Church create
A clergy that is celibate?”
Allegations are also made against men who wed old hags because of money while ignoring girls who are finely bred. The poet awakes
as he is about to be beaten by the women in judgement. This translation by Marcus retains the skilful writing and musical mastery that
was in the original and could well have been written in the 1990’s.
Dolores Doyle,
Limerick City Library
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