Award winning Offaly poet pays tribute to Glen Hansard
Local tributes have been paid to the late Glen Hansard
The death of Glen Hansard in the early hours of Wednesday morning in a traffic collision caused widespread shock and sadness around the country.
Warm tributes have been paid to the deceased by people from all backgrounds.
Among the tributes is a special poem dedicated to Glen's memory composed by the award-winning Offaly poet and music critic, Anthony Sullivan, a native of Lusmagh.
The poem reads as follows
OH THE SHOCK OF IT ALL
- In Memory of Glen Hansard -
And oh! Oh the shock of it all
On this rainy day, late July
No summer should e'er hold such hurt
Or leave souls too numb to even cry
Down by 'the beds' and Rugged Lane
There, on a patch of ground that still
Should be to most anonymous
But from this day, alas, now n'er will
For here, caught in the breath between
Two worlds, your leaving came too soon
This crossing, this passing... this end
The song may fade, but never the tune
For melody of memory
Of kindness piled a mountain high
Will see your name sung in glory
Brighter than the grief of this goodbye
But that's to come, for further on
And miles away from this aching
Of straining to see our North Star
One last time while our hearts are breaking
But there'll be no one last farewell
No encore that we'll sing with you
And oh..., oh the shock of it all
All we have now is all that we knew.
C. Anthony Sullivan
2026