Mary’s Musings

In her latest observations Mary O’Rourke reflects on cocooning, the mountain of books she has read, Boris and Brexit, not to mention the US election and the Joe Biden/ Kamala Harris challenge to Donald Trump...

I decided that my favourite poem of all I had read and re-read was W.B. Yeats’ The Lake Isle of Innisfree.

Hello to all the readers of Senior Times.

It is good to be writing again for this fine magazine. I haven’t spoken with any of you since the lockdown in March/April and all that has happened since. I hate bringing up past things if they were not happy ones, but really the lockdown was particularly severe for people of my generation.

First of all, let me say, we were told we were being ‘cocooned’. I have an aversion to that word being used in this context; we were not being cocooned, we were being locked down. ‘Cocooned’ evokes a feeling of comfort, being cared for, wonderfully intimate, etc – all beautiful, caring words. That is not how we were feeling when we were told we couldn’t go outside our front door and we couldn’t have anyone call on us, or call on anyone else. It was quite horrible in every respect.

Yet, despite it all, there were times when I enjoyed myself in my own back garden. Firstly, we had terrific weather. If you remember back, there was day-long sunshine, morning to night, and lovely warmth right throughout April-May. I have a decent back garden, not lavish in any way but a good size, and I was able to pull out my chair every day and sit outside to revel in the sunshine and put all unwelcome thoughts away. The overriding impression I have of that time is of the birds. They were so busy, wheeling around in the sky above me, forever going somewhere, usually with a bevy of wings whirring and song bursting out of them. Oh, it was so good, and it was so loud and so enjoyable. I had never heard birdsong quite like it, and I guess it is because I was alone and able to absorb it. For the birds, they were full of ‘This is spring and we are here’.

I fancifully thought that yes, COVID was nasty and a part of all our lives, but somehow the Lord above gave us good weather to combat it. So, what did I do sitting out in my back garden? Well, I took to reading poetry – out loud. I sourced old poetry books I had, including my Soundings compendium from long ago when I taught English. I revelled again in the beautiful words written by so many wonderful poets. After many weeks of so doing, I decided that my favourite poem of all I had read and re-read was W.B. Yeats’ ‘The Lake Isle of Innisfree’. So every day when I sat out, I would recite that in a good loud voice. I didn’t seem to disturb the birds; they kept carolling and wheeling around, and I had the satisfaction of hearing my own voice saying those lovely words.

In the meantime, despite all of the carry-on, we have had the return of over a million children to school. There is no doubt that going to school is an essential part of every young person’s life. I have no doubt whatsoever that the children and students of Ireland are better off in school where life can continue as near normal as possible.

words with him. He has four lovely children. I couldn’t talk with any of them, but one or two of them would come with him each evening and they would stay outside the window and wave in at me and blow kisses. It was the best we could do, but it was so paltry compared to the usual chat we made and the hugs we had together. Now, that was a very difficult time of lockdown.

Apart from indulging in and reading poetry, I also read a few very good books which I hope you might enjoy sharing with me now. That was one good thing that I could do during lockdown, both reading and writing. So what books did I read? Well, the first one was Michael Heney’s fine book The Arms Crisis of 1970: The Plot That Never Was. This was enthralling, forensic and detailed, and demanded my full attention while I was reading it. I was fascinated, of course, even though I was not in national public life at the time, but I did know many of the dramatis personae and was able to place the events as they happened. It’s a really good read, and later I did a written review of the book for the Sunday Independent. I believe it is getting good sales.

The next big book I embarked on was 1691: A Novel by Joe Joyce. This is a book about the Williamite and Jacobite war in Ireland, but we learn much of what went on behind the scenes.

I so hope that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris can pull it off, but my instinct tells me that it is not going to be that easy to vanquish Donald Trump.

The war occupied three years in Ireland, and this book is about the middle year, with all the battlefields laid bare: the Boyne, Mullingar, Ballymore, Athlone, Aughrim and on down to the Treaty of Limerick. But we don’t just get a review of each battle; we get what went on in the conversations between Patrick Sarsfield, the lead general on the Jacobite side, and Baron de Ginkel on the Williamite side, and all of the other generals, the dispossessed of Ireland who roamed over all the battle scenes, and all of the various happenings and conversations which make up the book. It is an enthralling read, again one that demands terrific attention, which I gave it. Later, I did a review of this book too for the Sunday Independent. I believe it also is enjoying good success, and I am glad of that.

My next ‘big book’, which I am now perusing, is The Tale of a Great Sham by Anna Parnell – yes, Anna Parnell who was a sister of Charles Stewart Parnell and who wrote her book in 1909. She later died in 1911.

Margaret Ward has written a 40-page introduction to this updated version of The Tale of a Great Sham. The book would be worthy of reading if only for the introduction. The book is riveting and goes into the period of the various land wars and the actions of the English Prime Minister William Gladstone and all of that time between 1880 and 1900. Again, it is well worth reading, and I am glad it is occupying me right now.

Of course, there is no cocooning or lockdown at the moment, though the situation with regard to the coronavirus is essentially a very serious one. We are at a very important juncture right now, and how we behave and how we continue to keep the country open, and yet at the same time strive to halt the spread of the virus, is a very difficult task. gloomy; in fact I think Ireland is doing very well in the circumstances. But it needs continuous vigilance and support from all of us. Of course I can go out and round about now, and I do so.

We can call to friends, but in limited numbers, and it is important that we keep the rituals of socially distant engagement, of hand cleansing, and of the various essentials which we have got used to. So we’ll keep all that up. In the meantime, despite all of the carry-on, we have had the return of over a million children to school. There is no doubt that going to school is an essential part of every young person’s life. I have no doubt whatsoever that the children and students of Ireland are better off in school where life can continue as near normal as possible.

We have a government at last, rocky though it may seem, with its threesome in charge – Micheál Martin (FF), Leo Varadkar (FG) and Eamon Ryan (GP). But somehow, we are proceeding and life has a semblance of normality. Imagine, Brexit is still occupying the airwaves and the lines of the newspapers, and the highest of minds in Brussels, London and here, as the talks continue with Sir David Frost in the UK and Michel Barnier in Brussels. I had thought that Boris Johnson might have softened his cough, so to speak, with the ills of coronavirus rampant throughout the UK, and that perhaps he would be more inclined to look kindly on getting a trade deal through before the end of this year, 2020, which is the transition period.

But no, he seems quite determined that the UK is going to stand on its own, take on all its hoped-for new associates all over the world, do its trade itself and not be hampered, as they think, by rules and regulations from Europe. For us here in Ireland, a trade deal would be the best outcome of the talks, even though it would be difficult to implement it and live by. But it would be vastly better than having the UK exit

I had thought that Boris Johnson might have softened his cough, so to speak.

with no trade deal whatsoever.

It is extremely serious, and of course will only add to the economic wasteland we are facing as the coronavirus continues, when it is so important that Ireland continues its economic plan of sustenance to the Irish people.

There are just under eight weeks to go until we have the American election to choose a new president. The two combatants, as of now, are Donald Trump for the Republican Party and Joe Biden for the Democratic Party. As I write now, it appears to me, against all the odds of the huge pandemic in the US, that Donald Trump could yet reign supreme. His bluster and bravado can pay off in stressful circumstances. He is continually announcing that only for him, it would be so much worse. I feel that Joe Biden has gained by having Senator Kalama Harris as his running mate. She is a good legislator and very much a frontliner. I so hope that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris can pull it off, but my instinct tells me that it is not going to be that easy to vanquish Donald Trump.

The first debate between the two is to be on September 29. I remember so well from Hillary Clinton’s book that, after she lost the election, she said she was always sorry she didn’t wheel around and confront him on the stage when the two were debating and Donald Trump took to the ploy of following her every step around the stage, and in a way mimicking or mocking her. She wished she had turned around and said “Why are you following me? Stop that hateful habit you have adopted”, and stood up for herself. She just regrets that she didn’t do so.

Anyway, we have so much more to talk about, but for now I’ll say Slán. I hope you’ll continue to keep well and that we’ll continue to talk with one another. Slán tamall.