Easter 1966 Poem by David Cooke

Easter 1966



i.m. Peter McManus

On TV we were watching the soldiers
parade and saw, far away in Dublin,
how men filed past in martial splendour
while officials took a salute.

In droning celebration a band thumped out
The Foggy Dew. Did these heads, too,
drum to a bidding voice,
an identity: Poblacht na hÉireann

proclaimed in print across walls?
A die-hard republican veteran, you had shouldered
a gun in history. Fifty years later,
you were watching the screen with a child

and doled out lore and legend
in a steady tone of patriarchal
contentment. With an affable vehemence
you taught me that history was lived.

Memorial pageant, a smokeless sky -
we heard crowds cheer in Dublin.
In sprucened duds I can see you again
as you jauntily strut on parade.

COMMENTS OF THE POEM
READ THIS POEM IN OTHER LANGUAGES
Close
Error Success