I have lived in important places, times <br />When great events were decided, who owned <br />That half a rood of rock, a no-man's land <br />Surrounded by our pitchfork-armed claims. <br />I heard the Duffys shouting "Damn your soul!" <br />And old McCabe stripped to the waist, seen <br />Step the plot defying blue cast-steel - <br />"Here is the march along these iron stones." <br />That was the year of the Munich bother. Which <br />Was more important? I inclined <br />To lose my faith in Ballyrush and Gortin <br />Till Homer's ghost came whispering to my mind. <br />He said: I made the Iliad from such <br />A local row. Gods make their own importance.<br /><br />Patrick Kavanagh<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/epic/
