Let’s look at what changes have been made in Ireland due to Covid19. What do you think of the changes? Can you live with them? Are there any benefits?
Over the coming months I plan to explore these changes. First to acknowledge them individually and at a later date, delve into the bigger picture of each one. I think it’d be good to consider if any of them have a place in Irish society after Covid19?
Who could have imagined these changes in Ireland :
- Imagine my town
- Imagine the Working Week
- Imagine Valuing Everyone
- Imagine Holidays
- Imagine Gardening
- Imagine Healthcare
Theresa O’Donohoe
29 March 2020
I am reminded of my poem about Gleninagh Church. As I sat in the graveyard, on a beautiful sunny day, I imagined what life was like for the parishioners.
Church in ruins, stone on the ground
Grass, weed and thistles all around
Ivy, dark green, covers the wall
Rooks overhead, send out a call
Headstones scattered. No structure in place
Some without names, no family can trace
Plenty of children the hard life did take
Many’s her baby a mother did wake
Once there was stone, where now there is grass
Years past it thronged, while the priest said the mass
The people they walked, often a very long way
To hear the lords prayer, what he did say
The laughter of young ones running about
Must have been joyous, when mass was all out
The men all discussing the news of the day
“Was the crop good?”, “did you bring in the hay?”
Welcoming women, trading stories of life
How it was passing as mother and wife
They pledged their wares, a hen for some spuds
A pig and a donkey, whatever your goods
They baptised their children soon after birth
Married for love, set up home and hearth
They buried their dead, they wept at the grave
To ritual and ceremony, all were a slave
Reading the headstones, many my kin
Were they buried, fearing their sin
Fear of God and his mighty wrath
Obeying commandments, staying on the right path
Now it is silent, no children in sight
No couples about, setting out flight
The dead they are sleeping under the soil
Mere clues to their years of blood, sweat and toil
Theresa O’Donohoe April 2013
