A Tree Has Fallen Poem by Martin Swords

i.m. Tommy Nolan 1940-2008


In a silent belfry
An old bell.
From the sea at Wicklow
A new rope.
In the graveyard
A new sound.
The Tolling Bell
Calls loud
To the quiet hush
Of the slow walk.
Ask not for whom,
It tolls for Tommy Nolan.

Back from the valley
Forest hills,
Derrybawn,
Lugduff, Camaderry,
Brockagh,
The toll returns,
The woodland wakes
A sturdy forester.
A tree has fallen,
Back to the earth.
Ring on Toll.
Echo Thanks.


Martin Swords August 2008


Tribute for a grand character with whom I worked.
A former forrester from the village of Laragh,
Glendalough, Co. Wicklow, Ireland.
The church bell tolled again first for Tommy's funeral