Traitor!

by Sean Hallinan

“Mac” did a hasty disappearing act,
During the Civil War!
Folks said “the thief stole his father’s bicycle…
And slipped away at the dead of night”
Back from the Bronx,
First vacation, five decades later…
He explained,
“I disobeyed an order
To shoot a neighbour accused – 
Of being an informer“.

Reproduced with kind permission of the author. This poem was composed in Poetry as Commemoration workshops held at the National Museum of Ireland — Country Life on the 8th & 9th of November 2022. The workshops were led by writer Terry McDonagh.