Requiem for the Croppies by Seamus Heaney - CCEARequiem for the Croppies
The poem describes the events leading up to the Battle of Vinegar Hill on 21 June 1798. Croppies were Irish rebels fighting for independence from Britain.
The pockets of our greatcoats full of barley - No kitchens on the run, no striking camp - We moved quick and sudden in our own country. The priest lay behind ditches with the tramp. A people, hardly marching - on the hike - We found new tactics happening each day: We'd cut through reins and rider with the pike And stampede cattle into infantry, Then retreat through hedges where cavalry must be thrown. Until, on Vinegar Hill, the final conclave. Terraced thousands died, shaking scythes at cannon. The hillside blushed, soaked in our broken wave. They buried us without shroud or coffin And in August the barley grew up out of the grave.
from New Selected Poems 1966-1987, published by Faber and Faber