https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber
Lyra Catherine McKee was a
journalist from Northern Ireland who wrote for several publications about the
consequences of the Troubles. She also served as an editor for MediaGazer, a
news aggregator website. On 18 April 2019, she was fatally shot during rioting
in the Creggan area of Derry.
I never met Lyra McKee and
circumstances at the time have always prevented my visiting Northern Ireland.
But I have met other, similarly inspiring people from Belfast and its surrounds
who have made me particularly sensitive to the toll The Troubles and their
lasting consequences for the good people of Northern Ireland; some might disapprove
of an Englishman having written the poem below, but as any poet will tell you …
if you gotta write, you gotta write.
(Photo taken from the Internet)
(ANOTHER) FLOWER OF THE FIELD CUT DOWN
A journalist, she died on the job,
cut down in her prime,
murdered by a self-styled New IRA
hell bent on fanning flames
of unrest plaguing Northern Island
since its Assembly collapsed
She’d hoped to marry a partner.
had even bought the ring;
a woman in love and openly gay,
winning hearts and minds,
a crusader for change in a society
(still) in the grip of its past
Robbed of a future, by a single shot
fired in pointless anger
by someone unlikely to be qualified
to explain their purpose
other than celebrating dark times
in the absence of any light
A lively funeral, various politicians
from all divides mixing
with her family and friends to applaud
the life of a woman
eager for communities and society
to come together in peace
A priest challenged those present
to explain why it had taken
a young woman's death for politicians
to unite in condemnation
when loath to meet up, debate, see
to shaping all she stood for
A standing ovation spoke (far) louder
than any words at Stormont
or Westminster could begin to utter
for party leaders fearful
of a breaking out of common sense
likely to damage media profiles
Consensus, that Lyra’s untimely death
should prove a turning point
for moving on in its social and political
aspirations, not to satisfy
any dogma written on tablets of stone
but a new Here-and-Now ...
To be or not to be? A question folks
of a political bent always ask
the world over, whether better to please
some of the people some
of the time given no hope of pleasing
all the people all the time
Politics, a good-bad-ugly play on words
meant to engage or disengage,
arm, disarm, even charm where a case
for ends justifying means,
especially when it can mean bridges
over dark water rebuilt to last
Whatever, some deaths become milestones
in any country’s history,
reminding us how and why someone died,
dates and faces inspirational,
if taken root in mind-body-spirit or left
to haunt us for our shortcomings
Copyright R. N.
Taber 2019