Tomas O'hAodha

Tomás O'hAodha (Thomas Hayes, Milltown Malbay, 1856 - 1935) was een Iers dichter en cartograaf.

Samen met Patrick Hehir (Padraig Ó hAichir), ook uit Miltown Malbay, maakte hij de eerste wandkaart van Ierland met plaatsnamen in de Ierse taal.

Voorbeeld: het gedicht Sacrifice

He scorned all laws but those that God had made for him
When he obeyed the “Mother’s” piteous call.
Then went he forth into the pathway dim,
That he her anguished soul might disenthrall.

A darkness lay upon the land like Egypt’s curse
And hearts were shrivelled ‘neath a Stygian gloom;
With tears and blood the tyrant would amerce
E’en prayers that might avert a Nation’s doom.

He strove to lift the pall and failed; but left a rent
Through which the light from out the East now shines
In ever-wid’ning beam; and in content
The “Mother” waits, for she no longer pines.

He spurned the bandeau that would veil from him his death,
No craven fear felt then, nor e’er before;
His courage spoke e’en with his dying breath,
Then honoured be his name for evermore.

Bronnen, noten en/of referenties