Wednesday, June 17, 2015

The Battle of Waterloo!

The Battle of Waterloo!


The Battle of Waterloo was fought on the 18th of June 1815 in what was then part of the Netherlands or today Belgium. Anyway shaky enough on the geography but the Duke himself was from just up the road and as I said before something of a local sense of humour, or maybe the stories are just that; stories! Most of his army was Irish and as for the horses, well we won't go there. A number of excellent articles in the "Times" last Sunday especially from Kevin Myers and Conor Brady on the subject, or implications of. If you can still get your hands on a copy worth it for Myers article alone. I always said there is more history in Meath than most other countries and we're tripping over the great and good and not doing too bad on the other side of the coin either. This is a poem I wrote on the man himself.

From the Wellington Monument

The parish church bells
The Wellington Monument/Trim
From Google Images.
Ringing out
The measure of the day.
A Mass perhaps
The Angelus
Or someone passed
Away.

And everything about
His place
The steady hand
The measured
Pace.

Impatient
Waiting to be off
The columns turned
A moment 
Passed.

Dressed for 
The Phoenix Park
And a good cigar
The woods laid out
The town 
Below.

And eyed it all
The shadows cast
Cold colours
And the world
Away.

Frank Murphy.

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