PLUNKETT’S WEDDING
-
Mike Jenkins (U.K.)
In the prison chapel where we sit
Joseph Plunkett and his darling
Grace
Before the last rites the wedding vows
Utter silence except “I do” -
Before he’s taken to his cell
And she back to her black cat -
Before they meet for the last
time
Under the dome of Kilmainham Gaol
For ten timed minutes of holding
hands
In that heaviest quiet
Before the yard the firing squad
The justice of the British empire -
Where she was to return
To mural her cell wall with the madonna
-
In the spy-hole circle the halo
Of a woman who knew
The lily grew close to her bare feet.
****