First Ireland, Now Northern Ireland Poem by Raymond Farrell

It didn't have to be this way
If (was there ever a more telling if?)
If people had made it
A simple priority
To put others first
Like the good Christians
They falsely claimed to be
And would treat others
Their personage, their property
With dignity and respect
Millions, yes millions
Would not be the forgotten victims
Of starvation, murder and displacement
In this struggle
Which has waxed and waned
In intensity for centuries
And whose effects
Continue to this day.