Requiem for the Croppies

Seamus HeaneySeamus Heaney

1 min read · 12.4K reads

The pockets of our greatcoats full of barley...
No kitchens on the run, no striking camp...
We moved quick and sudden in our own country.
The priest lay behind ditches with the *****.
A people hardly marching... on the hike...
We found new tactics happening each day:
We'd cut through reins and rider with the pike
And stampede cattle into infantry,
Then retreat through hedges where cavalry must be thrown.
Until... on Vinegar Hill... the final conclave.
Terraced thousands died, shaking scythes at cannon.
The hillside blushed, soaked in our broken wave.
They buried us without shroud or coffin
And in August... the barley grew up out of our grave.
Seamus Heaney
About the poet

Seamus Heaney

1939 - 2013/Male/IrishA poet, playwright, translator and lecturer, Heaney's work explores the local surroundings of Ireland and how to trust the modern world.

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