In memory of Shane Mac Thomáis, Glasnevin, March 2014 The spring day blossomed, daffodil bright The sun climbing higher and lifting us, lifting the year towards summer. The breeze rose stronger, winds bringing clouds of hail But the rising... light stirred our blood After the long night of winter. On such a day we would love to come to this place To open again the copious pages of our story. On such a day we would love to climb again The stairs of Irish history, as Casement called it, And to run down the green slopes And visit the quiet corners in the evening Remembering rabbits playing in a sunset field As Pearse imagined them in his death cell. On such a day, Shane, you could tell Of patriots and scoundrels, rebels and reprobates The world renowned and the almost forgotten And always you would bring to the fore The downtrodden, the consumption stricken The barefoot children, the despised women The slaves of Church and State. But instead we come here on this day of all days Full of questioning and anger, pity and pain. The storied dead are a jumble of names, The monuments a mass of shapeless stones, The paths and walls and trees are tangled up. Today we cannot make sense or comprehend or conclude. The language of this place has lost its grammar The narrative dissolves, the image fades. And then - Tuar cheatha, tuar trócaire - A rainbow, an augury of mercy Arched full across the sky above the tower. No doubt, Shane, you would compare it With the falling star at Parnell’s funeral. And what is each life but a fleeting rainbow A meteor blaze From sky to earth? Shane, we enjoyed your colours and your light All too short, too quickly gone, too soon To close the gate and turn the key and walk with collar up Against the spring rain. - Mícheál Mac DonnchaSee More
Posted on: Fri, 28 Mar 2014 21:11:08 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015