And song and wing shall fill the place,
And murmuring of a new moon’s tide.

Strange shall her story be, and long,
And old her love as the blue sea.
In her white presence growing strong
Of all my cares I shall be free.
And with her through the years to be
Live where wing-shadows shake with song.

~ Francis Ledwidge

The Irish war poet, Francis Ledwidge, also known as “poet of the blackbirds”, was killed during World War I at the Battle of Passchendaele.  He was only 29.

The eight of ninth children, Ledwidge grew up in an impoverished family in County Meath, and had to leave school at the age of 13 to find work.  He wrote poetry wherever he could – even on fence posts and gates, like the one mentioned in the poem above. 

When he was 14, his poems began to be published in local newspapers and he came under the patronage of a publisher, Lord Dunsany, after he sent the man some of his poems.  Lord Dunsany was well known in both Dublin and London literary circles and introduced Ledwidge to W.B. Yeats – one of the most famous Irish poets and playwrights.

It was against Dunsany’s wishes that Ledwidge joined the war effort – in Dunsany’s own battalion, in fact - but Francis insisted on defending Ireland’s freedom.  His experiences during the war, which included a number of painful injuries, fuelled his writing.  Ledwidge continued to send Dunsany his poems during the war, as well as to family, friends and literary contacts.

Painting: Aline at the Gate (Girl in the Garden) by Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1884)