"The late Bryan McMahon in his short story, "The Crossing", said, through one of his characters, that writing is "a compulsive venting of the fermenting cask of my passion". I have always admired McMahon anyway but I have never found anything that so expertly defines 'writing'. Many of my poems in this book were written at times in my life over the last twenty years when my head was literally exploding with feelings of one kind or another, from intense love through to dejection and near despair. If the person who casually takes up this book takes the time to read the poems within I think this will become very obvious. Starting with my Inis Meáin poems right through to poems about family and relationships at the end of the book I am only too well aware that I have probably exposed more of myself than many would care to do. I think I have a reputation for direct, no nonsense, plain talking and I believe I have done that in this, my first, collection. One thing that I hope does come through is my huge love and admiration for my late wife, Mairéad, who passed away since these poems were first published, for my parents, now sadly deceased also and for all of my children and grandchildren."

Excerpt from The Flag and Other Poems: 1918 Though worlds are trembling round me and freedom is at stake. Because I have no sorrows, because my heart's at rest, I cannot weep with others, whose hearts are not so blest; I tremble for no hero upon the fields of France, I cannot curse the Nero who planned this gory dance. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Many of the poems in this book were written at times in the author's life over the last twenty years when his head was literally exploding with feelings of one kind or another, from intense love through to dejection and near despair.

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