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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsOn the Anniversary of Bobby's Death, One of his Favorite Poems Comes to Mind.
The Lamentation for Owen Roe O'Neill captures the sadness of the Irish nation at the loss of a great leader when he was sorely needed. Here are some excerpts:
DID they dare, did they dare, to slay Eoghan Ruadh ONeill?
Yes, they slew with poison him they feared to meet with steel.
May God wither up their hearts! May their blood cease to flow,
May they walk in living death, who poisoned Eoghan Ruadh.
Wail, wail ye for the Mighty One. Wail, wail ye for the Dead,
Quench the hearth, and hold the breathwith ashes strew the head. 10
How tenderly we loved him. How deeply we deplore!
Holy Saviour! but to think we shall never see him more!
Sagest in the council was he, kindest in the hall,
Sure we never won a battletwas Eoghan won them all.
Had he livedhad he livedour dear country had been free: 15
But hes dead, but hes dead, and tis slaves well ever be.
Wail, wail him through the Island! Weep, weep for our pride!
Would that on the battlefield our gallant chief had died!
Weep the Victor of Beinn Burbweep him, young and old:
Weep for him, ye womenyour beautiful lies cold!
Soft as womans was your voice, ONeill! bright was your eye,
O! why did you leave us, Eoghan? Why did you die? 30
Your troubles are all over, youre at rest with God on high,
But were slaves, and were orphans, Eoghan!why did you die?
The Irish seem drawn to the tragic and tragedy remains his family's companion. I have to believe that as he would recite these words to a crowd, he knew it was a foreshadowing of his own death. I was as devastated by his loss as was Thomas Davis, the author of the poem, for O'Neill. He wept for Ireland, I still weep for the US.
lastlib
(23,244 posts)"Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' on over the hill,
With Abraham an' Martin an' John....."
"Some men see things as they are and say 'Why?'
I dream things that never were, and say 'Why not?'"
"My brother need not be idealized, or enlarged in death beyond what he was in life; to be remembered simply as a good and decent man, who saw wrong and tried to right it, saw suffering and tried to heal it, saw war and tried to stop it.
Those of us who loved him and who take him to his rest today, pray that what he was to us and what he wished for others will some day come to pass for all the world."
--Edward M. Kennedy
chieftain
(3,222 posts)freshwest
(53,661 posts)And I guess it will be so until I pass on.
SammyWinstonJack
(44,130 posts)Xipe Totec
(43,890 posts)I was in high school. I remember hearing the news. I remember being reminded of his brother, JFK. I remember taking a black wool sweater from my closet and wearing it to school. I remember the curious looks of my classmates, wondering why I was wearing colors of mourning. Few if anyone around me understood.
You see, at the time, I was still living in Mexico. It would be days still before the full impact of the tragedy would become clear to the adults around me, to say nothing of my classmates.
But I knew who he was. I knew how important he was. I knew that history would take a different path then, into unseen and unknown territory.
So today, I offer as tribute, this poem translated from Spanish to English, by a Spanish poet, written for a friend also murdered.
The Weeping Gardener
By Miguel Hernández
I want to be
the weeping gardener
of the ground you occupy,
and compost so early,
my soul mate.
To feed the garden snails in the rain,
organ of my voiceless pain,
surrendering your heart as food,
to the disheartened roses.
Such pain clumps in my chest,
that breath is agony.
A hard fist, an icy blow,
an axe strike, homicidal and unseen,
a brutal push tumbled you.
There is no wider chasm than my wound,
I cry to misfortune and her companions,
I feel your death, more than my life.
Unkempt and unshaved,
without warmth or consolation,
I tend to my affairs soullessly.
Death took flight early,
and early came the dawn of morn,
and early it spills upon the ground.
I do not forgive death for loving you,
or forgive life for its distraction,
or forgive the ground,
or forgive oblivion.
With bare hands I raise a storm,
of stones, bolts and strident axes,
thirsting and hungering for catastrophe.
With bare teeth I want to dig the ground,
and move the dirt part by part,
in dry and furious bites.
I want to mine the earth until I find you,
to kiss your noble skull,
unbind your body and return you,
to my garden and my fig tree.
Your soul that was,
so effortlessly gentle,
will flutter lie a bird,
among the flowered trellises,
and will return at the murmur
of the iron gates,
where lovers meet.
You will lighten the shadow of my brow,
and your blood will flow through my garden.
Competing for the bees and for your girl,
your velvet heart will summon forth,
a crop of snowy almond blossoms.
But my jealous voice will call you
away from the almond trees,
to the winged souls of the roses.
For we have much to talk about,
my soul mate,
my companion.
lastlib
(23,244 posts)A wonderful tribute to a man whose likes we may never see again in our lifetimes.