Finish or Fling? - Alba

This was an early attempt at design, done using tracing paper, graph paper and a pencil - no computer then - I don't think I even owned one at the time (gasp!)

The country is of course Scotland, and the verse that was left unfinished is in Gaelic, and is the Runrig song, Alba.

In full, this would have read:

Air sgiath a' seoladh nan neoil
'S an domhain liath
Mar dhealbh a' tighinn beo tro na sgothan
'S mi a' tilleadh gu tir

Alba nam beanntan ard
Nan acraichean lom
Thairis air na lochan mointich
Nan coilltean 's nan gleann

Ach 'se sealladh leointe is gann
Tha an seo aig ceann thall an linn
Talamh alainn nan daoine
Fhathast an lamhan duine no dithis

Cuibhlean stolda mu dheas
Na fasaichean a tuath
An taigh-mor falamh an Dun-Eideann
Gun chumhachd gun ghuth

Sibhse chuir achadh ri achadh
Taigh ri taigh
Gus nach bi ait anns an tir
An gabh sibh comhnaidh air leth

Ach 's math dhomh bhith seo an drasd
A cur failt air a' bhlas
'San tir a tha cho ur dhomh an diugh
Is a bha i nuair bha mi 'nam phaisd


Which is probably why I finished after the first line of the third verse. I'm not a Gaelic speaker and so backstitching all this text didn't come naturally to me. It's a lovely song, and I like the sentiment (an English translation is at the bottom of the post) but the project? Let's weigh up the pros and cons:

Pros:

• One of my one designs
• I like the song

Cons:

• It's on aida, not my favourite fabric when there's large blank areas
  
• It's all backstitch. And in a foreign language
• I don't like the colours (what was I thinking?)
• The balance of the design is wrong, and the lettering is going to get tangled in the design.

Finish or fling?



Verdict: Fling

Translation:






This flight is sailing through the clouds
And the blue heavens
The homeland appears like a developing photograph
Through the mists as I return to land

I see Scotland of the high mountains
And the empty acres
Flying low across the moorland lochs
The forests and the glens

But it's a wounding and a hollow sight
Here as we reach the end of the century
The beautiful soil of the people
Still in the hands of the few

I see the wheels of industry at a standstill
And the northern lands wasted
And the empty house in Edinburgh
Without authority or voice

You that have laid field upon field
House upon house
Till there be nowhere for you to be placed alone
In the midst of all the earth

But it is good for me to be here now
As I welcome the warmth
In this land that's as exciting for me today
As it was the day I was born