President Michael D. Higgins recites his powerful poem Take Care in a new video created by the Institute of Technology Carlow.

Michael D Higgins, President of Ireland

The video has been released to reassure and instill a sense of campus community amongst students and staff during the pandemic crisis.

Take Care, written by the President and published in Season of Fire in 1993, is central to the video which has been by Glasseye. The poem is matched with incredible drone footage of Co Carlow and the Institute campus.

To tap into the reassurance and beauty that poetry offers in times of crisis, Declan Doyle, Vice-President for Development at IT Carlow, received permission from Áras an Uachtaráin to use the President’s poem in the video.

By using the President’s poem Take Care, and a montage of images of its home county, the Institute says it is “using the beauty of the President’s poetry with local images to open up a world beyond the current one and help us all imagine the better future that will come”.

“Poetry is a powerful and soothing medium right now and we think the words in Take Care are particularly apt. Combined with some really beautiful footage of our college’s campus and surrounds, we want this video to be a touching reminder to IT Carlow students that we are still connected, even though the college is closed for now,” Declan Doyle said.

This video is the latest installment in IT Carlow’s current #ITCarlowTogetherApart campaign for students and staff during the current COVID-19 crisis that aims to keep the campus connected, and its sense of community alive, during the pandemic.

View the video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBwRBR3-lP8&t=2s