He was a voice
Crying in a wilderness
A nice young man
Ordained to be a priest
Ordained to speak
For goodness and for truth
The people came
Wise despite his youth
Crowds built up
In thousands
Just to hear him
Monthly mass
To set old Poland free
Authorities threaten to detain him
The die is cast
Either you or me
Broke down car
The priest stops his to help
Beaten to death
Tied up and thrown away
His grave a watery reservoir
Rescued for a tomb
Worthy of the priest
Who couldn’t stay
Death had done its worst
Now Poland’s free
Free at last from foreign tyranny
He was born in ‘47
Killed in ‘84
Oppression brought out the best in him
He knew what lay in store
Brian Fahy
1 October 2021
+ Jerzy Popieluszko (1947 -1984). Murdered by Polish Communist Security Forces on 19th October 1984. Buried by his church of St Stanislaus, Warsaw.
Erris Poetry 