Frankie Quinn with a poem from his book Open Gates.

Charley Donnelly's Farewell

Feel the olives sour and hard underground where freedom
Wept beneath the feet of Irish rebels betrayed by home grown
Suits with buttons stamped by the crown two heads
One looking forward; the other back for people who stood
For liberation shielded by stone ditches on every other side a gun.
♞♜♝
Crack. He falls, a muttering Slán a Chara between comrades
Of another tongue, cradle a rebel who fled from contra invasion
To fall beneath the orchards of a sun-baked land where dryness insults
His throat he fades away into the evening with eternal night lark’s song
Through the exploding clatter of stripped bark scorched by hate.
♞♜♝
Carry back the bodies of fallen soldiers who stood shoulder to shoulder
With international consciousness, they brought together those prepared
To free nations oppressed by all the isms of conservative thought
Plant them beside the oak and drench them with water to grow saplings
For future generations who will forever bring them to remember us.

⏩ Frankie Quinn is a former republican prisoner who is now a community activist. He is the author of Open Gates, a book of poetry.   

Charley Donnelly's Farewell

Frankie Quinn with a poem from his book Open Gates.

Charley Donnelly's Farewell

Feel the olives sour and hard underground where freedom
Wept beneath the feet of Irish rebels betrayed by home grown
Suits with buttons stamped by the crown two heads
One looking forward; the other back for people who stood
For liberation shielded by stone ditches on every other side a gun.
♞♜♝
Crack. He falls, a muttering Slán a Chara between comrades
Of another tongue, cradle a rebel who fled from contra invasion
To fall beneath the orchards of a sun-baked land where dryness insults
His throat he fades away into the evening with eternal night lark’s song
Through the exploding clatter of stripped bark scorched by hate.
♞♜♝
Carry back the bodies of fallen soldiers who stood shoulder to shoulder
With international consciousness, they brought together those prepared
To free nations oppressed by all the isms of conservative thought
Plant them beside the oak and drench them with water to grow saplings
For future generations who will forever bring them to remember us.

⏩ Frankie Quinn is a former republican prisoner who is now a community activist. He is the author of Open Gates, a book of poetry.   

No comments