Two bilingual tanka, in Irish and English, “Hail the Deserters” and “Weeping in their Graves,” 31-syllable poems (5-7-5-7-7), in response to work by two Irish artists, William Orpen and Seán Keating.
When the First World War broke out, Orpen’s assistant, Seán Keating, returned to Ireland, avoiding conscription, but Orpen stayed on, to support the “war effort.”
William Orpen has sixty-eight works on display at Wikiart, Seán Keating none.
Hail the Deserters
tréigtheoirí abú
fíor-laochra na cinniúna
a fhógraíonn an tsíth
teithigí ó pháirc an áir
leagaigí uaibh bhur n-airm!
hail the deserters
true soldiers of destiny
harbingers of peace
flee the sordid battlefields
all sides—lay down your arms now!
Weeping in Their Graves is in response to Keating’s painting Men of the South (1921).
Weeping in Their Graves
á, dá bhfeicfidís
ár nÉire iar-choilíneach
Coronation Street
leagáid lom uile na nGall
le deora líonfaí a n-uaigh
could our heroes see
post-colonial Ireland now
Coronation Street
all of England’s bare baggage
how they’d weep in bitter graves!
■ A recent tanka title from Gabriel Rosenstock is “Daybreak: Poem-Prayers for Prisoners”
