The End of Clonmacnois

In the Second World War, Oxford escaped destruction, but Ireland of
the ninth century was not so lucky. To the people of the time,
Clonmacnois meant what Oxford means to an Englishman, Harvard to an
American. For Swords read, perhaps, Barrow-on-Furness or Seattle. The
main point is that this is not an epigram on a minor historical event.

“Whence are you, learning’s son?”
“From Clonmacnois I come.
“My course of studies done,
  “I’m off to Swords again.”
“How are things keeping there?”
“Oh, things are shaping fair—
“Foxes round churchyards bare
  “Gnawing the guts of men.”


Source: O'Connor, Frank (tr); Kings, Lords, & Commons: An Anthology
from the Irish; 1962; London; Macmillan & Co; p.46