Poem ~ Retribution - Tuesday, 9 May 1916

Source: File: Thomas MacDonagh. [online] See original image at: <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Thomas_MacDonagh.png> [Accessed: 9 May 2016]

Source: File: Thomas Clarke. [online] See original image at: <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Thomas_Clarke_the_brave.jpg> [Accessed: 9 May 2016]

Source: File: Patrick Pearse. [online] See original image at: <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Patrick_Pearse.jpg> [Accessed: 9 

Source: File: Michael Mallin - remembering a forgotten leader from the 1916 Rising by Brendan Daly. [online] See: <http://www.irishcentral.com/roots/-michael-mallin-remembering-a-forgotten-leader-from-the-1916-rising-159930455-237512301.html> [Accessed: 9 May 2016]

With problematic issues providing evidence,

Irish rebel court martial’s were held

In secrecy - a conveyor belt of justice began

With arrests of 3,430 men - along

With 79 women, some knowing of little hope.

The beginning of trials 2 May ended with death

Sentences on heads of three men;

Tom Clarke, Thomas MacDonagh Patrick Pearse.

3 May dawned in Stonebreakers Yard,

Kilmainham Gaol, to be executed by firing squad.

In letters allowed to families, Tom Clarke felt

Relief of execution, from alternative

Dread of prison - where he had spent years -

Four days later on eve of Michael

Mallin's execution, he also wrote to his family.

Home lay on road from Richmond Barracks -

Close to Kilmainham Gaol, Mallin

Had hoped to see his wife and children

On passing - but only the dog

Prinnie was sat by the door - Mallin was torn.

Emotive words of his final letter reflected

How the revolution's leaders would

Have felt - the executions continued despite

Irish MP John Redmond's warning -

Asquith saw seeds of lasting Irish troubles.

by Jamie Mann.

Source: File: The Irish Times. Easter Rising 1916 – the aftermath: arrests and executions. By Shane Hegarty and Fintan O’Toole Thu, Mar 24, 2016. Online. Available at: <http://www.irishtimes.com/culture/heritage/easter-rising-1916-the-aftermath-arrests-and-executions-1.2583019> Accessed 9 May 2016

Mann, J., 2016. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 9 May 2016). 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12209706/Daily-Telegraph-May-5-1916.html

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