This is not for a tattoo, but a spoken intro to a musical recording that will appear on a compilation (so still permanent and important to get it right!).

The English passage:
The Imbolc sun might promise to shine
should you tend the fires
in the hearth, forge, and mind!
For Brigid the Dark
and Brigid the Light

What I came up with so far myself (starting with Google Translate, then honing it mostly using http://breis.focloir.ie/en/, and what little I know on my own having used various sources, which puts me at VERY beginner level, but I do work on it everyday):

b’fhéidir gealltanann an ghrian imbolg lonrú
má bhíonn stócálann tú na tinte
sa an teallach, ceárta, agus aigne!
Le haghaidh Brighid an Dubh
agus Brighid an Solas

Note that I more or less changed 'should' to 'if' and 'tend' to 'stoke' in the second line, because those seemed to match the Gaeilge a bit better to my mind. I feel pretty good about the last four lines (though you all might school me on that!), but the first line I'm having a lot of trouble, especially with word order, but also word choice and figuring out how to match up the subjunctive 'might' with 'promise' as a verb and then what to do with the infinitive 'to shine' because Irish doesn't have infinitives exactly (I wound up in some linguistics papers rabbit holes arguing about how to deal with the syntax of infinitives in Irish).

Please help me correct this translation as I am a VERY beginning level Gaeilge student who has been tasked with this project, and I want it to be perfect. Any help is greatly appreciated, but note that I want to learn from this, and not just get the right translation, so discussion and explanations of translation choices are welcomed and greatly appreciated.

I'll take a shot at this, but wait for more input/correction.

Go ngealla an ghrian Imbolc a shoilsiú
Má stócálann tú na tinte
Sa dtealach, sa gceérta, san aigne
Ar son Brighid Dhorcha
Ar son Brighid Gheal

To get around the issue of the first line, I went with go ngealla an ghrian (may the sun promise/let the sun promise).

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Táim ag foghlaim fós. Fáilte roimh gach aon cheartúchán.

Good call on 'dorcha', duh, 'dubh' means 'black', not 'dark'. I just like saying it, haha.

Somehow I missed the "GU" in the thread title when I posted this earlier. My version is not Ulster dialect. I'll leave it up because at least it's a start and someone with Ulster Irish might find it easier to modify mine instead of starting from scratch.

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Táim ag foghlaim fós. Fáilte roimh gach aon cheartúchán.

Actually Mick, your stab at it was very helpful posting.php?mode=reply&f=28&t=3857#. I should also say, GU is preferred, but not absolutely necessary. I will say that I cannot go with a translation of 'let the sun promise to shine', though I can see how if more poetic license were allowed, that would be a brilliant solution. However, in this case, even though it is poetry and not philosophy, there is a strict subjunctive, modal conditional not a subjunctive imperative (like 'fiat lux'). This poem is not saying, 'hey world, please allow the sun to shine', it is saying 'if you tend the fires of the mind (if certain conditions hold), then the sun (metaphor for illumination/enlightenment) could possibly shine upon you' (then certain conditions will obtain), so I feel like I have to maintain the conditional to keep the logical meaning of the first three lines intact, not turn it into a command or a request for permission. So far I'm still sticking with 'b’fhéidir gealltanann an ghrian imbolg...', unless someone tells me that's just completely wrong, though I did replace 'lonrú' with 'shoilsiú' per your version, as after I researched it, that seemed to be the more fitting word for the shining of the sun. Thanks again for your help!

Don't go with this without spelling corrections, I'm crap with that.
And I have no idea if "imbolg" is either a feminine or masculine noun.


B’fhéidir go dtabharfeadh grian na imboilge gealtanas taithniú
Má stócálaítear na tinte
sa teallach, sa gceárta, agus san aigne
do Bhríd Dhorcha
is do Bhríd Gheal

I assume when you say "you" you are not talking to a specific individual.