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Withered petals

‘Maybe a breath of politic words 

Has withered our Rose Tree; 

Or maybe but a wind that blows 

Across the bitter sea.’ 

– from The Rose Tree by William Butler Yeats

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Kew Gardens, London, October 2020

I think many of us may feel that “politic words” could well be the cause, at pretty much any time in history. This poem was written as a fictional conversation between James Connolly and Padraig Pearse, the leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising, with words from England (across the sea) withering Irish nationalism (the rose tree).

 


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Copyright Debbie Smyth, 9 July 2021

Posted as part of Becky’s TreeSquare

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