Upcoming Events

Galway | Anti-War / Imperialism

no events match your query!

New Events

Galway

no events posted in last week

Blog Feeds

Anti-Empire

Anti-Empire

offsite link North Korea Increases Aid to Russia, Mos... Tue Nov 19, 2024 12:29 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link Trump Assembles a War Cabinet Sat Nov 16, 2024 10:29 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link Slavgrinder Ramps Up Into Overdrive Tue Nov 12, 2024 10:29 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link ?Existential? Culling to Continue on Com... Mon Nov 11, 2024 10:28 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link US to Deploy Military Contractors to Ukr... Sun Nov 10, 2024 02:37 | Field Empty

Anti-Empire >>

Human Rights in Ireland
Promoting Human Rights in Ireland

Human Rights in Ireland >>

Lockdown Skeptics

The Daily Sceptic

offsite link In Episode 23 of the Sceptic: David Shipley on Starmer?s Political Prisoners, Anti-ULEZ Campaigner N... Fri Dec 13, 2024 07:00 | Richard Eldred
In episode 23 of the sceptic: David Shipley on Starmer?s political prisoners, anti-ULEZ campaigner Nick Arlett on his unjust arrest and David Turver on Net Zero subsidies.
The post In Episode 23 of the Sceptic: David Shipley on Starmer?s Political Prisoners, Anti-ULEZ Campaigner Nick Arlett on His Unjust Arrest and David Turver on Net Zero Subsidies appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link News Round-Up Fri Dec 13, 2024 00:51 | Richard Eldred
A summary of the most interesting stories in the past 24 hours that challenge the prevailing orthodoxy about the ?climate emergency?, public health ?crises? and the supposed moral defects of Western civilisation.
The post News Round-Up appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link If You Thought the Farmers? Inheritance Tax Raid was Bad, Wait Till You See What its Proponents Have... Thu Dec 12, 2024 19:00 | Mat Brown
If you thought the inheritance tax raid on farmers was bad, wait till you see what its proponents have in store for us next, says Mat Brown. The Blob that gave us the 'tractor tax' has its sights set on a wealth tax.
The post If You Thought the Farmers’ Inheritance Tax Raid was Bad, Wait Till You See What its Proponents Have in Store for Us Next appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Education Department Awards $1 Billion in DEI Grants Since 2021, Report Finds Thu Dec 12, 2024 18:03 | Will Jones
The U.S. Education Department has handed out more than $1 billion in DEI grants since 2021, a report from Parents Defending Education has found. No wonder Donald Trump wants to abolish it.
The post Education Department Awards $1 Billion in DEI Grants Since 2021, Report Finds appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link How Science is Showing that Free Speech is Built into the Brain Thu Dec 12, 2024 15:52 | Dr Christopher Badcock
Science is showing that free speech is built into the brain, says Dr. Christopher Badcock. The latest insights from neuroscience suggest that the censorious are regressing to infantile cognition where no nuance is allowed.
The post How Science is Showing that Free Speech is Built into the Brain appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

Lockdown Skeptics >>

Voltaire Network
Voltaire, international edition

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N?111 Fri Dec 06, 2024 12:25 | en

offsite link Attempted coup d'?tat in South Korea Fri Dec 06, 2024 12:17 | en

offsite link What is changing in the Middle East , by Thierry Meyssan Tue Dec 03, 2024 07:08 | en

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N?110 Fri Nov 29, 2024 15:01 | en

offsite link Verbal ceasefire in Lebanon Fri Nov 29, 2024 14:52 | en

Voltaire Network >>

Paddy in The Shed - poem of the Great War

category galway | anti-war / imperialism | opinion/analysis author Thursday April 13, 2023 19:57author by Fred Johnston - Private Report this post to the editors

Poem around my late grand-uncle in Dublin


A poem retrieved from memories of my teenage years listening to tales of The Great War from my grand-uncle, Paddy Caffrey, who remained affected by it decades afterwards.

PADDY IN THE SHED

Paddy’s gone into the shed again
Shivering from his war
Till he fell down the stairs in Gardiner Street
And died behind the door

My grand-uncle was a dapper lad
Even in later years
A handkerchief in the breast pocket
He was fond of his few beers

He’d had a few when he tumbled
Down the tenement stairs
He’d survived his war and made it home
But he fought on for fifty years

I was a raw teenager then
The same age, more or less
He’d scuttled off to Flanders fields
On the Kitchener Express

He had some great yarns of courage
And a few about losing your nerve
And one of a young lad tied to a post
And shot for refusing to serve

He rode on a two-horse and limber
And one day while standing at ease
Came the whack of an Albrecht mortar
And blew one horse into the trees

My Granny would tell him to shut it
His stories were gory and rough
Too nasty and brutal and bloody by far
For young lads to hear, shocking stuff

As if we didn’t see him
Shivering in the back yard shed
When he reckoned that no one would miss him
If he popped out to chat with the dead.

FRED JOHNSTON

© 2001-2024 Independent Media Centre Ireland. Unless otherwise stated by the author, all content is free for non-commercial reuse, reprint, and rebroadcast, on the net and elsewhere. Opinions are those of the contributors and are not necessarily endorsed by Independent Media Centre Ireland. Disclaimer | Privacy