Gura Mise tha fo Èislean (How Sad I Am)

A milling song in Scottish Gaelic sung and played by Dominique Dodge. The song is from the perspective of a man who wakes up feeling sad, and who sees a deer and her mate. This reminds him of his painful separation from his own wife, who was forced to go to England while he was sent to Ireland. An archival version of this song as sung by John “Seògan” Shaw of Cape Breton’s North Shore can be heard at St. Francis Xavier University’s online archive, Gael Stream (Struth nan Gàidheal). There is also a beautiful recording of it by Joanne MacIntyre on her album Craobh a’ Mhathain (The Bear Tree).