Dúlra Scroiste / Nature Lost
Author: Dave Barron
Melody; Fiach O'Muircheartaigh
Amhránaí: Clara Hutchinson

Dúlra Scroiste / Nature Lost
Author: Dave Barron
Melody; Fiach O'Muircheartaigh
Amhránaí: Clara Hutchinson

Is mise Danú ….. Is mise Ériu ..... Is mise an grian ..... is mise an gaoth .....
Is mise guth na hÉireann

Fillean an fáinleog gach samhradh
Do’n nead óna d’eitil ar dtús
Ach le déanaí tá siad in easnamh
‘Sé easpa cuileoga an cúis.

Curfá
Agus caithin a chlois tú an cuirliún,
Guth cuach ag ceiliúr na camhaoir,
Slaparnach an bradán san abhainn,
Grág traonach I ngarra an féir?

Bhí cuach ‘gus cuirliún comónta
Ba bhreá é a nglaoch d’ár gcluas;
Ach anois tá an tírdhreach ab fhearr leo
Scriosta is millte anuas.

Curfá

Buaileann an bradán abhaile
Chun abhainn a dhúchais a fháil,
Ach is bruscar, is fosfáit, is camras
A bhacann an borradh cupláil.

Curfá

Ba mhaith leis an traonach an móinéar:
Bhí cosaint do’n nead insan féir,
‘Nois bearrtar an sadhlas sa mhórchluain
Is an traonach bocht caillte ar strae.

Curfá


NATURE LOST
The swallows return every summer
Near the nest where they flew their first flight.
But their numbers grow fewer and fewer:
Few insects refuel their long flight.

Chorus
When did you last hear the curlew,
The call of the cuckoo at dawn,
The splash of the salmon in summer,
The croak of the crake in the corn?

The cuckoo and curlew, once common,
Pleasing our ears with their calls
Find the landscape they like is no longer:
They’ll soon have no shelter at all.

Chorus

The salmon returns to the water,
Back to the place it was born,
But phosphate, and sewage, and litter
Now hinder the surge home to spawn.

Chorus

The corncrake was fond of hay meadows:
The long grass there sheltered its nest;
Now silage is shaved in big prairies
And the corncrake is gone like the rest.

Chorus

Tá go leor de na fuaimeanna a bhí coitianta in Éirinn anois ag fáil bháis nó imithe. Tá damáiste déanta againn don Dúlra agus ar an gcaoi sin táimid ag déanamh damáiste dúinn féin agus dár n-Oidhreacht Nádúrtha. Mura ndéanaimid athchóiriú, cén oidhreacht a fhágfaimid dár bpáistí agus ár ngarpháistí?

Many of the sounds that were common in Ireland are now dying or gone. We have damaged Nature and in so doing are damaging ourselves and our Natural Heritage. If we do not restore, what heritage will we leave our children and grandchildren?

This song won the National and International song competitions in the Pan Celtic Song contest, 2026.

Video: https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1CK8HauePm/?mibextid=wwXIfr