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Chapter 11 |
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1. |
And what of more recent days? |
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2. |
Does anyone recall St Cuileáin's bell shrine
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3. |
as they pass through the great halls of the greatest museum? |
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4. |
A powerful lie detector it was said. |
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5. |
A Mere fourteen hundred years ago or more. |
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6. |
A personal relic of a saint, that founded the monestary of Glankeen. |
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7. |
The brother of Cormac, the king-bishop at Cashel nearby. |
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8. |
Surely Cuileáin , must be known as the Holly? |
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9. |
Surely Cormac his king-bishop must be known as the Holly? |
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10. |
Alas, as visitor comes and go, admiring the bell shrine, |
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11. |
no whisper is heard of the Holly family. |
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12. |
Nor the saint whose name is entwined. |
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13. |
Even he is condemned to the cloak of forgetfulness. |
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14. |
And what of the keepers of the bell? |
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15. |
the Béarnan Cuileáin who did use its power to detect false oaths for nigh three hundred years, |
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16. |
surely they must be acknowleged as the Holly? |
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17. |
Alas, the bell tolls no more for those who blight their memory from the pages of history. |
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18. |
You too no longer exist. |
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19. |
A fate similar to Cormac mac Cuileannáin the last Bishop/King of Irish history |
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20. |
a mere thousand years ago. |
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21. |
King of Munster and head of the Cuilleain (holly). |
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22. |
Both he and his Book of Cashel are no more. |
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23. |
Discarded and forgotten by more ambitious men. |
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24. |
And what of the Cuilean of Clann Glas nine hundred years ago? |
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25. |
The Lords of Ui-Conaill-Gabhra? |
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26. |
No longer respected in his own time as a member of the Holly, |
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27. |
his murder most foul at the hands of the Ua Cinnfhaelaidh (O'Kinneally). |
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28. |
He too and his line, erased from history. |
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29. |
Scant mention of a Baron and land, nor the power of his name. |
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30. |
Re-written by cowards, even the name Clann Glas changed. |
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31. |
The founders of the Green Race, |
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32. |
slurred as the Claon glas, the under belly of classes. |
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The lowest of classes. |
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34. |
And what of the Cuileain a mere seven hundred years from now? |
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35. |
When Mahon O'Collins, lord (Baron) of Clann Glas was murdered, |
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36. |
his home burn to the ground? |
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37. |
No blood remains on the hands of the Normans, |
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nor those loyal Irishmen whose title depends upon such deeds. |
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39. |
The last of the ruling Cuileain dead. |
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40. |
His home destroyed. |
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41. |
His name slurred to become Claon glas. |
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42. |
His death cursed to the pages of history as a domestic dispute. |
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43. |
Another page of the Holly burnt from the soul of Ireland. |
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44. |
Precious few remembered. |
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45. |
Names always changed. |
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46. |
Even four hundred years past this day,Dominic O’Collins a Jesuit is remembed as blessed. |
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47. |
For leading DunBoy Castle, the last of the resistance. |
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48. |
One of the 77 murdered in Dublin for their courage to their country. |
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49. |
Is he recognized as a member of the Holly? |
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50. |
Now even with names, the O has been removed. |
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51. |
So no longer O’Collins, but Collins. |
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52. |
Who then would see him as anything more? |
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53. |
And so it is with the great patriot and hero Michael O’Collins |
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54. |
less than a hundred years ago. |
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55. |
A man killed by the orders of his rival Éamon de Valera |
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56. |
Who would see him as an O’Collins, |
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57. |
much less a member of the Cuileann, the Holly? |
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58. |
For such recognition would give weight to his brief reign as President |
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59. |
as a single united Ireland,without North or South. |
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60. |
A feat unmatched for near two thousand years |
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61. |
Not since his ancestor Cormac mac Art, also of the Holly |
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62. |
Is not rule of blood a powerful thing? |
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63. |
What then of those who have spent a lifetime re-writing the history of Ireland? |
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64. |
So to the darkness of history such open understand is condemned. |
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65. |
An arrogant man they claim. |
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66. |
A man who was honey mouthed, |
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67. |
but would not bend to the will of the many. |
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68. |
The many who depend upon division and strife. |
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69. |
Forget then everything you read and be happy. |
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70. |
For faeries and goblins and greedy men rule this world |
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71. |
The truth is long buried. |
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72. |
Better to be Prince of a divided heap, than a patriot of a united land. |
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