The Wheel

by Ellen Harrison

I am exact,
One circular frame,
Of chivalry dead and gone –
And all the king’s horses
And all the king’s men,
Mean nothing when I’m not one.

I was hijacked there
At four this morning,
By children – playing fun –

Written by Ellen Harrison as part of Poetry as Commemoration workshops led by Mark Granier in North Wicklow Educate Together Secondary School, Bray in September 2023.

Inspired by a ‘Photograph by W.D. Hogan of a group of Irish Free State Army soldiers sitting and reclining on the road, possibly near a check point’.
Collection: Desmond FitzGerald Photographs
Reference: P80/PH/63
Archive: UCD Archives