Connolly - Liam McGowan by University College Dublin

The insurrection in 1916 inspired a vibrant body of poetry. These works engage in fundamental ways with the ideals of independence and with the feelings and experiences that helped shape modern Ireland.
As part of the 1916 Irish Independent / UCD supplement series Dr. Lucy Collins has analysed key poetry of 1916.

University College Dublin in partnership with the Irish Independent is inviting members of the public to vote for their favourite poem related to "Easter 1916".

People can read the poems and cast their vote here: http://www.independent.ie/risingpoems

The man was all shot through that came today,
Into the barrack square;
A soldier I - I am not proud to say
We killed him there;
They brought him from the prison hospital,
To see him in that chair,
I thought his smile would far more quickly call
A man to prayer.

Maybe we cannot understand this thing,
That makes these Rebels die;
And yet all things love freedom and the Spring
Clear in the sky.
I think I would not do this deed again,
For all that I hold by;
Gaze down my rifle at his breast - but then,
A soldier, I.

They say that he was kindly - different, too
Apart from all the rest;
A lover of the poor, and all shot through,
His wounds ill drest.
He came before us, faced us like a man,
Who knew a deeper pain
That blows or bullets - ere the world began;
Died he in vain?

Ready, present. And he just smiling - God
I felt my rifle shake.
His wounds were opened, out and round that chair
Was one red lake;
I swear his lips said "Fire" when all was still,
Before my rifle spat
That cursed lead - And I was picked to kill
A man like that.