Tommy Frank O'Connor
Yoes
You did not kill the blood you poured
on Gibbet Rath; as plasma
flowed to earth,
your sword could find no edge
to penetrate the spirit
in the mingling.
Two hundred years ago you rode
our rising roads on horses
bearing death.
Your carnage mowed a terror sward
through people who revolted
for their freedom;
their heroism is honoured still,
for then you thought defiance
could be quelled.
You ploughed and sowed a nation’s love
for patriots unsubmissive
to oppression.
Who is remembered now? Whose blood
forever warm? We cannot
find your names
recurring in remembrances
of deeds that stand in merit
for the living.
We wish you well; we bear your souls
no further wrath.
Our soldiers bring our gift of hope
to peoples in the wake of wars.
The spirit of our rebels
lives in sharing.
Page(s) 135
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