It’s Poetry Day Ireland so I am supporting from abroad. This years theme is Truth or Dare so throughout the day I will be posting a few of my older poems on Truth and a few more on being Irish…
Toppling his Tower
What can I lay by the feet of such beauty?
What can I offer my love on this land?
A garden of roses, omitting the thorns
with this golden ring I hold in my hand.
But a garden of roses, omitting the thorns
is barely enough to garland your grace,
so I’ll pave you a path in the finest fabric,
a velvet so sweet to mirror your face.
So I’ll pave you a path in the finest fabric,
a cloth of brocade to comfort your cares,
a daylight distraction to hold your attention
from rebels and riots that are not our affairs.
A daylight distraction to hold your attention
to paintings and poems that hang by our side
in a tower I’ll build you to keep out the cries
of a world lost to power and drunk on its pride.
In a tower I’ll build you to keep out the cries
and a lark then from the meadow I’ll borrow
so she’ll sing of the stars and the moon that is ours
as we’ll lay in arms and let love sooth the sorrow.
But restless was her soul on the call from outside,
her beauty diminished by the sounds of their cries
and one day he lost her where his paved path divided
and he cut down her roses with tears in his eyes.
I gave her the finest, the fairest and fancy,
I gave her the beating heart of this man,
but she was bound to the call of the lost and the lonely
which now I have become and therein I see her plan.
All words and photographs of Dublin by Damien B. Donnelly
Damien B. Donnelly 
I’m curious if the golden ring has a particular significance? It reminds me my mother had an Irish ring, it had a particular name that I don’t remember, and is supposed to be worn only if one has a genuine Irish background – at least 25 percent I think. She JUST qualified (and therefore not me). She gave it to my sister-in-law – who came from Australia but also has enough Irish to “qualify” her to wear the ring!
Well the Claddagh Ring is a traditional Irish ring, often gold with a heart clasped by two hands, it can be for friendship or for love, the ring worn on the wedding finger pointing to the heart means the wearer is married, on another finger with heart pointing to the wrist can mean friendship or single or not looking for love… I think there are many interpretations. For this poem , our favorite Irish poet WB Yeats was in love with Maud Gonne who in turn was in love with the rebellion. Yeats offered poetry and a peaceful life and she refused his hand, or ring, on more than one occasion but his unrequited life gave birth to some wonderful poems so one wonders if she had accepted him, would his poetry about her have been as wonderfully tortured.