Gnúis Dhil Mo Rúin / My Darling Beloved
Gnúis Dhil Mo Rúin
I ndiaidh an chogaidh, i Meán Fómhair 1945, phós Máirtín Áine Colivet, bean de shliocht na Fraince as Luimneach.
B’iníon í Áine le Michael Colivet a bhí i gceannas ar cholún cheantar Luimnigh le linn Éirí Amach 1916 agus a bhí ina TD sa Chéad Dáil. Cailleadh máthair Áine go tragóideach de dheasca tinnis a chuaigh in olcas mar gheall ar an drochíde a tugadh di le linn ruathair a thug na Dúchrónaigh ar an teach. Bhí a hathair ina chime ar Inis Píce ag an am.
Ba chuimhin le hÁine stampaí a cheannach ó Mháirtín in oifig an phoist i nGaillimh nuair a bhí sí ina déagóir óg agus bhí sí chomh tógtha sin leis an bhfear ard dathúil ar an taobh eile den chuntar go ndúirt sí léi féin go bpósfadh sí lá amháin é. Casadh an bheirt ar a chéile arís i 1944 agus bhí siad pósta taobh istigh de naoi mí.
I ndiaidh an chogaidh, aistríodh Máirtín go dtí Oifig na Scrúduithe ar Shráid Talbóid i mBaile Átha Cliath agus ó 1948 go dtí 1955 bhí sé ina chláraitheoir sa Choláiste Náisiúnta Ealaíne agus Deartha. Chuir sé an-aithne ansin ar aos ealaíne na cathrach: Seán O’Sullivan, Seán Keating, Elizabeth Rivers agus Maurice MacGonigal ina measc. Ealaíontóir eile a raibh aithne aige uirthi ná Nano Reid a mhaisigh an cnuasach Rogha Dánta a d’fhoilsigh Sáirséal agus Dill i 1945.
Rugadh an t-aon pháiste a saolaíodh do Mháirtín agus Áine, Niamh ‘an chinn chiardhuibh’, i 1947. Chuir siad fúthu níos deireanaí ar Bhóthar Whitehall i dTír an Iúir.
My Darling Beloved
On 4 September 1945, in the aftermath of the war, Máirtín married Áine Colivet, a Limerick woman of French extraction.
Áine was the daughter of Michael Colivet, who headed the Limerick District command during the 1916 Rising and was an elected TD to the First Dáil. Áine’s mother died tragically from ill-health which was exacerbated by her mistreatment during a Black and Tan raid on the house. At the time, her father was interned on Spike Island.
Áine remembered purchasing stamps from Máirtín in the post office in Galway as a young teenager, and was so taken by the tall and handsome Aranman behind the counter that she told herself she would marry him one day. They met again in Dublin in 1944 and married nine months later.
After the war, Máirtín was transferred to the Examinations Office on Talbot Street, and from 1948 to 1955 was Registrar at the National College of Art and Design on Kildare Street. Here he became acquainted with artists and painters including Seán O’Sullivan, Elizabeth Rivers, Seán Keating and Maurice MacGonigal. Another artist acquaintance, Nano Reid, provided modern avant garde illustrations for Ó Direáin’s third collection, Rogha Dánta, which was published in 1945 by Sáirséal agus Dill.
Máirtín and Áine’s only child, Niamh, was born in 1947. They later settled on Whitehall Road in Terenure.
“My parents were so passionately in love that I often felt like an intruder in their marriage. When my mother and I would be looking out the window for my father to get off his bus from work, I knew the first thing he would do was throw his arms around my mother, hug her and then open out one arm to include me.”
Niamh, iníon Mháirtín