Gedicht
Patrick Galvin
The Prisoners of the Tower
The Prisoners of the Tower
The Prisoners of the Tower
I can see them nowPrisoners of the tower
Their faces blind
From centuries of barbed wire.
If you are guilty
You know you are guilty
If you are innocent
You would not be here.
You are here
Therefore . . .
1
When the cell door closes
Behind you
You are free
When the cell door closes
Behind you
You are free
When the cell door closes
Behind you
You are free to weep
Endlessly
Without tears.
It is an offence
To shed tears in the tower
It is an offence
To grow old in the tower
It is an offence
To sit in the tower
But
You may walk freely
From wall to wall
And contemplate
The absence of bread.
Under our system of Government
A man has these rights:
You may walk freely from wall to wall
And contemplate the absence of bread.
2
You may not
Hear voices.
All prisoners
Who hear voices
Will report such voices
To the Keeper of the tower.
These voices do not exist
And if they do exist
They will be shot.
The shooting of voices
Is essential
To the harmony
Of the tower.
All prisoners
Who fail to report
The hearing of voices
Will be shot.
All prisoners
Who report the hearing of voices
Will be sent to a lunatic asylum.
Prisoners who are sent to a lunatic asylum
May
Lose the freedom of the tower
But the voices will stop.
Under our system of Government
A man has these rights:
You may lose the freedom of the tower
But the voices will stop.
3
You are free
To die.
All prisoners
Are entitled to death
All prisoners
Are entitled to a speedy death.
Any prisoner
Who is not capable of committing suicide
Will be shot
Any prisoner
Who fails to report
A desire to commit suicide
Will be shot.
When a prisoner dies in his cell
His body will remain in his cell.
It is an offence
To remove the dead from their cells.
It is assumed that in due time
Nature will corrupt the flesh
But the bones
If any
Remain the sole property of the prisoners.
He may return for these bones
At any time.
Under our system of Government
The dead also have rights:
You may return for these bones
At any time.
You are free
To have them.
© 1979, Patrick Galvin
From: New And Selected Poems
Publisher: Cork University Press, Cork
From: New And Selected Poems
Publisher: Cork University Press, Cork
Gedichten
Gedichten van Patrick Galvin
Close
The Prisoners of the Tower
I can see them nowPrisoners of the tower
Their faces blind
From centuries of barbed wire.
If you are guilty
You know you are guilty
If you are innocent
You would not be here.
You are here
Therefore . . .
1
When the cell door closes
Behind you
You are free
When the cell door closes
Behind you
You are free
When the cell door closes
Behind you
You are free to weep
Endlessly
Without tears.
It is an offence
To shed tears in the tower
It is an offence
To grow old in the tower
It is an offence
To sit in the tower
But
You may walk freely
From wall to wall
And contemplate
The absence of bread.
Under our system of Government
A man has these rights:
You may walk freely from wall to wall
And contemplate the absence of bread.
2
You may not
Hear voices.
All prisoners
Who hear voices
Will report such voices
To the Keeper of the tower.
These voices do not exist
And if they do exist
They will be shot.
The shooting of voices
Is essential
To the harmony
Of the tower.
All prisoners
Who fail to report
The hearing of voices
Will be shot.
All prisoners
Who report the hearing of voices
Will be sent to a lunatic asylum.
Prisoners who are sent to a lunatic asylum
May
Lose the freedom of the tower
But the voices will stop.
Under our system of Government
A man has these rights:
You may lose the freedom of the tower
But the voices will stop.
3
You are free
To die.
All prisoners
Are entitled to death
All prisoners
Are entitled to a speedy death.
Any prisoner
Who is not capable of committing suicide
Will be shot
Any prisoner
Who fails to report
A desire to commit suicide
Will be shot.
When a prisoner dies in his cell
His body will remain in his cell.
It is an offence
To remove the dead from their cells.
It is assumed that in due time
Nature will corrupt the flesh
But the bones
If any
Remain the sole property of the prisoners.
He may return for these bones
At any time.
Under our system of Government
The dead also have rights:
You may return for these bones
At any time.
You are free
To have them.
From: New And Selected Poems
The Prisoners of the Tower
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