They have shot the Tsar
And all his family
And what came after?
Cruel tyranny
Stalin’s purges communism’s curse
Before was bad
What followed even worse
In France we saw the guillotine
The best the worst of times
Blood lust in the country
Fearful fearful crimes
In Spain a bloody civil war
The fright of Guernica
Rehearsal for a greater blitz
The Nazis and Heil Hitler
In Italy majestic pomp
The Mussolini strut
Dreams of Roman empires
Ended when he’s shot
The horror of Hiroshima
Nagasaki too
Enola Gay is in the air
Ominous bomber crew
In England we had a king
Who put his wives to death
And another claiming rights divine
Suffered shortness of breath
Victoria benighted lass
Too long on the throne
Did not know what to do with grief
Left to fight alone
America and Vietnam
Don’t get me started there
Young men sent to fight a foe
He’s here he’s there he’s where?
Then of course there’s World War One
The war to end all wars
The land the soldiers’ families
Still we bear the scars
And Ireland dear Ireland
A people left to rot
Dispossessed dispirited
Time and time forgot
Then they shot young JFK
1963
Followed by a fashion
A further killing spree
Martin Luther King was killed
Then Bobby Kennedy
Now it’s school kids in their school
And Black folk generally
The causes of our history
And of our life today
The same old story every time
It hasn’t gone away
Human greed and selfishness
I want this for me
The cure to love your neighbour
Christ on Calvary
Brian Fahy
23 December 2021
Erris Poetry 