She kneels before a statue of the Virgin
And prays for all those children lately dead
And for the boy who killed them too she prays
For the torment that got inside his head
A child of mine? Maybe I’d lose my faith
Or feel it ebb away in this world’s cold
But from a distance God can still be found
Always there that’s what I was told
And Mary knows how it is to lose a son
And lose him to a violence so strong
She stood beside the cross and watched him die
A witness for all who would go wrong
Out of this world’s darkness here is light
The Mother of the Lord who hears our prayer
Ave Maria be our strength and guide
At the hour of death and now teach us to care
Brian Fahy
30 May 2022
+ A photograph shows a woman at prayer in Church in Uvalde. It is a peaceful lifeline to God in a place torn apart by vicious gunfire. We have looked on death whenever we look at the crucifix, and in that death all death is defeated. God grant them rest.
Erris Poetry 