In "the news" lately: Irish judges the highest paid in Europe, ditto TDs, teachers, coppers and all the rest.
Speaking of the latter, there are ongoing (and still unaddressed) allegations of Garda corruption... maybe we'll have a tribunal or Government investigation exposing it all in 20 years' time? Maybe a few of them will get a taste of their own medicine and sample the inside of a jail?
But no, didn't the great Irish public vote against giving Government investigations real powers in a recent referendum? So the corrupt can continue to come out smiling for the cameras whenever such "investigations" take place.
The Irish public. "The Peeple".
The same gobshites who voted for Charlie, Bertie, Lowry, Callely and other assorted shysters year-in year-out, decade after decade, all the way back to Dev himself. The same gobshites who voted to keep the senate.
If you think about it too much you'll end up going insane... this is what the Irish people want, after all. And you don't want to end up like them.
Sure 'tis a great little land.
And what better way to sum up Irish parochialism and small-mindedness than this 1938 work by Patrick Kavanagh? "The Munich bother", by the way, is the Munich Agreement: when Chamberlain famously appeased Hitler in a hope to stop further Nazi expansion... "peace for our time".
We all know what happened next... "The Emergency".
Epic
I have lived in important places, times
When great events were decided, who owned
That half a rood of rock, a no-man's land
Surrounded by our pitchfork-armed claims.
I heard the Duffys shouting "Damn your soul!"
And old McCabe stripped to the waist, seen
Step the plot defying blue cast-steel -
"Here is the march along these iron stones."
That was the year of the Munich bother. Which
Was more important? I inclined
To lose my faith in Ballyrush and Gortin
Till Homer's ghost came whispering to my mind.
He said: I made the Iliad from such
A local row. Gods make their own importance.
Patrick Kavanagh
When great events were decided, who owned
That half a rood of rock, a no-man's land
Surrounded by our pitchfork-armed claims.
I heard the Duffys shouting "Damn your soul!"
And old McCabe stripped to the waist, seen
Step the plot defying blue cast-steel -
"Here is the march along these iron stones."
That was the year of the Munich bother. Which
Was more important? I inclined
To lose my faith in Ballyrush and Gortin
Till Homer's ghost came whispering to my mind.
He said: I made the Iliad from such
A local row. Gods make their own importance.
Patrick Kavanagh
10 comments:
Thank you GM, that poem brought me back to my classroom of many years ago. When I first learnt it,there was holy murder in our part of the island at that time over some bogland and who should build the stone-wall etc.
I've mooved on and abroad since but you're right Kavanagh sums up the country alright.
You know it could be so different cos Ireland and its people are really appreciated here in other European countries. If only !
Redneck
Hiya Redneck.
I remember being well impressed with this one myself way back in the day.. a great little poem.
Hi GM, great poem. In the spirit of sharing, and just to cheer you up, may I offer this:
This Be The Verse. (Philip Larkin)
They fuck you up, your mum and dad.
They may not mean to, but they do.
They fill fill you with the faults they had
And add some extra, just for you.
But they were fucked up in their turn
By fools in old-style hats and coats,
Who half the time were soppy-stern
And half at one another's throats.
Man hands on misery to man.
It deepens like a coastal shelf.
Get out as early as you can,
And don't have any kids yourself.
Cheers!
Great poem. Great tip. Wish more took heed.
"your children are a blessing"
Rabbi "woody" Allen.
Dear GN,
You are a bitter , twisted maladjusted miserablist that cant leave well enough alone, let sleeping dogs lie, let bygones be bygones etc.etc and so on!
when are you coming back?
Hiya DirtyBertie.
I'm just a bit worn out with it all at the mo'... It's like you're banging your head against at wall all the time, and pondering our little land too intensely doesn't do an awful lot to preserve sanity.
Maybe it's just easier to accept that we're outnumbered by gobshites?
GM
GN, I can certainly sympathise with you there, but,as the saying goes,dont let the (grasping ignorant gobshite)bastards grind you down.
keep the faith
(not THAT one!)
You are right, of course, DirtyBertie. I've not gone away completely... thanks for your support.
Fabulous poem, thank you very much. Situation unchanged in our corner of God's Own Country...
Post a Comment