The Maud Gonne of Longford

by Sally McHugh

In memory of my great-grandmother Cáit Ní Bhrádaigh, Cumann na mBán, Longford. The poem refers to the Clonfin Ambush of February 1921.

She silently prayed
while gusts of gunfire
blew across the fields
from where the North Longford Flying Column,
and her son, Tom, ambushed Auxiliaries.
The gale blew southerly against the feet of Our Lord
east to his outstretched hand, shuffled westerly,
northerly to the face of the weeping body
crucified upon the cross.
Four cardinal points.
Four provinces of Erin.

Reproduced with kind permission of the author. This poem was composed in Poetry as Commemoration workshops held at Galway City Museum  on 5th and 12th of November, 2022. The workshops were led by writer Gerry Hanberry.

Image of Maud Gonne McBride courtesy of Bain News Service, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons