The Living And The Dead

 

I often saw her at her mother’s grave

Arranging flowers there as I passed by

I saw the Italian name and asked from where

Monte Casino – beautiful place said I

 

Beautiful place famous monastery

Deep blue hills around not far from sea

Place of brutal slaughter in ‘44

I sat there in the Allied cemetery

 

And walking on another grave I spied

To one who died in Dublin now buried here

Thomas Douglas Stirling boy abroad

A bus driver caught up in Ireland’s fear

 

Walking down the street a bomb explodes

Retaliation for IRA campaign

Young Thomas only twenty takes the force

Four months in Ireland brought back home again

 

For a while I knew the cemetery

Far better than I knew the roads around

I lived among the dead when Margaret died

To me it was the only sacred ground

 

But life goes on you have to step in pace

And live amidst the ever-changing time

And let our loved ones rest in God’s good grace

And live today and help the world to chime

 

Brian Fahy

29 December 2021