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 most 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.
[5]
[10]
GLOSSARY
GLOSSARY
[Title] Epic: a long poem or work that portrays heroic deeds and adventures and covers an extended period of time
[3] rood: old unit of measurement, equivalent to quarter of an acre
[9] the Munich bother: a reference to the Munich Nazi Germany, the United Kingdom, France and Italy, which was supposed to prevent the Second World War.
[11] Ballyrush; Gortin: local place names
[12] Homer’s ghost: Homer was an Ancient Greek poet, and author of the Iliad and the Odyssey