Wednesday, April 15, 2015

A Child of the Troubles...

I have covered - albeit just a little - some of the political unrest in Northern Ireland over the last few decades.  Without adding anything, here is a poem :

A CHILD OF THE TROUBLES
by Douglas McClarty


I was a child of the troubles
Got to know about bombs and bullets
Empty parked cars were avoided
If you were a child of the troubles.

Tit for tat murder on both sides
Wake up to another bloody day
Afraid sometimes to go out and play
If you were a child of the troubles.

Worried always about my mum and dad
To see them get home I was always glad
Innocents were killed in so many towns
If you were a child of the troubles.

Some of my childhood friends didn't talk to me
Because they were the other side you see
It's all their fault, or could it be ours
If you were a child of the troubles?

Yet I remember when we all seemed to be free
When we played together, Seamus, Paddy, and me
At a time when our names didn't condemn us to blame
If you were a child of the troubles.

Both sides trying to score more killing points
A grotesque game played out each day
Why should they make us pay
If you were a child of the troubles?

Somehow one day, the killing all suddenly stopped
Then it was just shouting about who was to blame
It's much better than bombs, bullets or blood
If you were a child of the troubles,


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