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Paul Muldoon Reads "Anseo"

2018-06-06 12 Dailymotion

When the master was calling the roll<br />At the primary school in Collegelands,<br />You were meant to call back Anseo<br />And raise your hand <br />As your name occurred..<br /><br />Paul Muldoon: So, this is a poem called Anseo. Anseo was the first word of Irish I learned. It means "here." It was a word that we learned at primary school as the role was being called. Here. Anseo, Anseo. <br />  <br />Anseo <br />When the master was calling the roll <br />At the primary school in Collegelands, <br />You were meant to call back Anseo <br />And raise your hand <br />As your name occurred. <br />Anseo, meaning here, here and now, <br />All present and correct, <br />Was the first word of Irish I spoke. <br />The last name on the ledger <br />Belonged to Joseph Mary Plunkett Ward <br />And was followed, as often as not, <br />By silence, knowing looks, <br />A nod and a wink, the master's droll <br />'And where's our little Ward-of-court?' <br />  <br />I remember the first time he came back <br />The master had sent him out <br />Along the hedges <br />To weigh up for himself and cut <br />A stick with which he would be beaten. <br />After a while, nothing was spoken; <br />He would arrive as a matter of course <br />With an ash-plant, a salley-rod. <br />Or, finally, the hazel-wand <br />He had whittled down to a whip-lash, <br />Its twist of red and yellow lacquers <br />Sanded and polished, <br />And altogether so delicately wrought <br />That he had engraved his initials on it. <br />  <br />I last met Joseph Mary Plunkett Ward <br />In a pub just over the Irish border. <br />He was living in the open, <br />in a secret camp <br />On the other side of the mountain. <br />He was fighting for Ireland, <br />Making things happen. <br />And he told me, Joe Ward, <br />Of how he had risen through the ranks <br />To Quartermaster, Commandant: <br />How every morning at parade <br />His volunteers would call back Anseo <br />And raise their hands <br />As their names occurred. <br />  <br />Recorded on: 1/23/08 <br /> <br /><br />Paul Muldoon: So, this is a poem called Anseo. Anseo was the first word of Irish I learned. It means "here." It was a word that we learned at primary school as the role was being called. Here. Anseo, Anseo. <br />  <br />Anseo <br />When the master was calling the roll <br />At the primary school in Collegelands, <br />You were meant to call back Anseo <br />And raise your hand <br />As your name occurred. <br />Anseo, meaning here, here and now, <br />All present and correct, <br />Was the first word of Irish I spoke. <br />The last name on the ledger <br />Belonged to Joseph Mary Plunkett Ward <br />And was followed, as often as not, <br />By silence, knowing looks, <br />A nod and a wink, the master's droll <br />'And where's our little Ward-of-court?' <br />  <br />I remember the first time he came back <br />The master had sent him out <br />Along the hedges <br />To weigh up for himself and cut <br />A stick with which he would be beaten. <br />After a while, nothing was spoken; <br />He would arrive as a matter of course <br />With an ash-plant, a salley-rod. <br />Or, finally, the hazel-wand <br />He had whittled down to a whip-lash, <br />Its twist of red and yellow lacquers <br />Sanded and polished, <br />And altogether so delicately wrought <br />That he had engraved his initials on it. <br />  <br />I last met Joseph Mary Plunkett Ward <br />In a pub just over the Irish border. <br />He was living in the open, <br />in a secret camp <br />On the other side of the mountain. <br />He was fighting for Ireland, <br />Making things happen. <br />And he told me, Joe Ward, <br />Of how he had risen through the ranks <br />To Quartermaster, Commandant: <br />How every morning at parade <br />His volunteers would call back Anseo <br />And raise their hands <br />As their names occurred. <br />  <br />Recorded on: 1/23/08

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