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 Duffeys 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