Inspired By The Reading Of ‘a Rage For Order' Poetry Of The Northern Ireland Troubles By Frank Ormsby 1992 ‘they' Poem by Peter O Keeffe

Is it really more than all the faiths could dream of?
Or just another sunny August afternoon
Giving credence to the words they offered
A ray of hope in Ireland's troubled gloom
Was this a true end to the 'barbarous cycle'
Or just a blip amidst a sea of war and hate
Condemnation split the zealots ‘no surrender'
From the throng prepared to pray and hope and wait
———
They are making all the pertinent noises
To the suits of the Whitehouse and Whitehall
But one of the suits they know is 'livid'
Over transfers he knew 'nothing at all'
Still an 'open door for normality'
Closes years of empty rhetoric and must be worth a try
After 25 years with aims to quell a vengeful thirst
Peace must now replace the hue and cry
———
A peace prize now proposed in Killala
Tranquility within a summer school
Almost a year hope filled, fear and trepidation
But spared the violence of the mindless and the cruel
'Many of my good friends and associates have left me - walked around the corner and been killed'
We pray to god that peace prevails for all of Ireland
And that ‘they' pay the price for any more blood spilled.


Peter O'Keeffe