Category: humanity

To The Land I Love (Éire)

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Half of the town is missing in Bermuda
You could search for a reason but it would elude ya 
Why the history of partition and pain
Became as common in Ireland as rain 
And I fight to hold my rebel spirit 
Under control so that no one might hear it
Because I have the heart of the Gael
And my soul is not up for sale
And my blood used to boil
When I would read history about our sweat and toil 
Under the rule 
Of the English that we learned in school
Had us under the thumb
And they would kill anyone who would not succumb
To the heavy weight of oppression
And it is my confession
That some part of me bears generational hate
For all of the acts that left us in that state
The people I would love to be kin 
To if they hadn’t died of the sin 
Of merely ceasing to exist 
As the loyal service of a crown that I missed
When they educate 
You to clean your dinner plate
Or you will die
If you do not want to lie
Then stand up and be counted 
As the people who stood up and shouted 
Against the lashing of hail 
And the plantation fail 
To convert an adequate number 
Now I see Palestine and their hunger
As they have no bread 
Because they are controlled by land, sea and air instead 
Of the freshness of home
Do we as a tribe leave them alone
To face the mountain of world 
Built on the conquering of the girl
In the soul of us all
Someone wants to build a brick wall 
To keep the Mexicans out 
But I don’t trust a word out of his mouth
Because the land is free
And it does not belong to me 
But I to it
The Native American’s in the place where I sit
At the altar of pride
It is not okay that I hide
When I have the privilege to say
The conquering is not okay
When you consider the truth
The civilised nations to play the brute 
And inflict 
Themselves on a future I would rather quit 
In the innocent stain 
I can see it happening again 
As the world turn 
But will the world burn
If we do nothing to stall
The advance of the darkness that answers the call
Of the nomad or thief 
I look to the sky and its blessed relief
Just to know 
That there is a space that will not let go
And though they fly through the air
And I have been there
I can’t set a flag
On a cloud so that I can brag
That I now own it 
I used to resent but I have grown it
Into simmering wisdom 
I watch the auspices of power and the Great Schism 
Split us into a prism of light 
That we are all one is the message of life
And bear no hate for your enemy 
Coz you walk in his shoes and you discover you’re free
To love enough not to be pulled low
Enough to wish him to die slow 
In the mists of time 
If I could forgive would that be a crime 
For the sake of pure love
And all of the Gaelic in the place where I stood
My ground in this sacred place
If you don’t know you can read it in my face

Image Credit: https://pin.it/6z8AkqIbK

Peace In The Valley

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I thought America was the global peacemaker
Standing on the side of right
But it just stands by and now I see
They are still laying siege to me
As I cower in a box they’ve locked 
Weaponry, they are well stocked
And nobody cries in the night
Hey man, this isn’t alright
For all of the ways we delegitimate
We can’t stop them from attacking another state
Just because it don’t have the resource
To resist that kind of force
From sea to shining sea
A devoted but I think you lost me 
Image Credit: https://pin.it/45K1HRRdY

Taking Turns

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Power meets me at the gate
And his message is I have to wait
To be myself 
Because my mental health
Is fragile and must be protected
I stare at the monstrosities he has erected
In the name of psychiatry 
But he does not believe me 
When I say that I am okay
He just looks away
And then into my eyes
But I’m a girl in disguise
And no longer bear the impression
Of someone soliciting a confession 
Of a true heart 
I feel the wheel start
To turn
And I burn
Under the weight as they intern 
Me in a camp for the broken
And the best of me remains unspoken 
As I try to explain
That you drink water because of the rain
That floods the fields from the sky
And we are only born so that we can die
Into the unknown
And my true colours shown
Earn me a certificate
It’s worse than a degree that my hunger whet
On the beach
Did you come here to teach
Me just what I am
And I resist the plan 
They have for me 
And fall into infinity 
And the body quakes
I have got the shakes 
On the carpeted floor of the dorm 
But these hailstones keep me warm 
And I love a good storm 
If it clears the air
If I speak the truth it’s because I was there


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Young And Foolish

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It’s as though as I’ve been infantilised 
So that I can become human in their eyes
And it’s not like me at all
It doesn’t fit the brick wall
That was erected 
In the space her love deflected
Like it was a poison drink 
And I feel myself begin to sink 
In the grand abyss
And my old self is something that I miss
When young and seventeen 
I could manage the dream 
Just fine
Til calamity became mine
As his darkness spread a sea
Over the blanket that had become of me
Like clouds keeping the earth warm 
Eventually the break into a storm 
That fosters the people in their solemn grin 
And they say that sex is sin 
But they all do it anyway 
So I push that characterisation away
Because if we go by generations past
The pain will everlast 
Into the future
And no suture 
Can heal the gauzy wound 
I watched the winds of doom 
Close in around that sea 
And they call it sacred warfare and indignity 
Seems to be the order of the day 
But I do not look away 
From the images that perforate 
The screen that masks the dark of hate 
That propels people into motion 
And suddenly I am floating 
Above it all 
And the call 
Pummels my door
So I answer it, and what’s more
I let it take me somewhere new
I’m giving it up for them and I’m giving it up for you

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The Desperation Of Sighs

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There is the desperation of sighs
As another Palestinian dies 
For want of love
Because the world is too far above 
Itself to reach down
And bring peace to a town 
When someone runs with a gun 
Something somehow clasps 
Their hands so that thing cannot last 
And yet we watch as the ICJ 
Won’t wish this genocide away
And people say you’re anti Semetic
If you don’t agree with the rhetoric
That would condemn a people to evisceration 
Torture and brutality the equation 
That would erase them from this earth
I don’t know if bombs are made to hurt
Or just tear apart 
The human heart
We must start
A movement, a revolution 
To end apartheid that is brutal 
And unforgiving and unfair
I know because I was there 
When I watched the flag fall
Don’t hide them behind a brick wall
And say it’s not your plight
Because they’re relying on us, alright?

Lost Causes And St. Jude

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South Africa’s leading the charge
And we are all floating on a barge
Down the river Thames 
Watching it happen again 
And over one hundred and fifty years ago 
The Irish were starved to death so 
The British could maintain their economy 
The invisible hand and the maize crop they take away from me 
So how do I not feel Palestine 
As though the struggle was mine
Babies screaming in the street
As the winter steals the heat 
And Israel bombs the buildings 
Do they not care for the children 
Who will grow up with war wounds
Or the ones who died too soon
The mothers, fathers, family, friends 
Is this how the world ends
Watching silently from the western front 
As a people bear the brunt 
Of what’s held in the unconscious 
And I don’t know what they want us
To do in the movement in between 
When they convince the dream 
That it is reality
But the lie is not getting the best of me

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The Commensurate Struggle

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The commensurate struggle under foreign rule 
And we learn about it in school
Like it is part of history
But there is so much that does not sit well with me 
Because I looked to the North of Ireland and could see
Blood on the streets as a child of 1990
And yet somehow there was an agreement that stemmed the tide
The flow of blood was silent outside
Though it still simmers underground
And I’m attuned to that sound 
As I hope it will rise only to be let go of
In place of a deeper kind of love
Now, bombs drop in the Middle East
And I wonder if our peace
Could be translated 
If the powerful could be educated 
In what it means 
To break nightmares into dreams 
For there are tens of thousands of children die 
Since the birth of the realm that made them cry
And I cannot stay silent and roll 
Like this is all there is in my soul 
Like I don’t have the blood of my ancestors proud
Who would say that the innocent and the loud
Should stand on equal footing 
And I know where they are putting 
The blame and why 
But no one deserves to die 
Before their time 
And is a war crime 
Only recognised in hindsight 
They starved us too 
From 1845 to ‘52
A million died
And mothers cried 
Others emigrated 
Now I’m listening to things the politicians stated 
As they barricade and siege 
With a terror you would not believe 
Leaving the people to disease 
And hunger and thirst 
I can only imagine the worse
As I hear the stories out of the Strip 
And soldiers as they equip
Themselves with weapons of war
Because they think they know what it’s for 
But when you look in their eyes do you see spirit 
And when a bomb drops and a child screams do you hear it
In the midnight of everyday 
Is it that you want a people to go away
And we were the Irish problem 
But somehow we were able to resolve them 
And for now, at least
A tenuous peace 
Holds in the dismantling 
Of the broken wing
At the heart of the tale 
Of how we are not up for sale 
And the people of the land 
Understand 
What it means to be driven home 
In a car all alone 
Thinking of a fellow kin 
And what they are doing to them
Under the guise of justification 
Saying we need an education 
In the politics of the Middle East 
Well I do and it’s the least
Thing I need to know it’s wrong 
When the materially strong
Use their force to betray
Everything in them that would say 
This is just not right 
What’s it like to be awake in Gaza tonight?

The Loss And The Grieving

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I startle a shot
And all I am not
Starts to beat up against the windowpane
Did I do this all in vain 
Did I stand up to be counted
Against all that has amounted
To nothing in the wind 
And to have sinned
Is the mantra of the day
I look at Hozier and he looks away
Or he would if he could see me stare
But I was there 
When the boy spoke those words to me
And if I could’ve I would’ve set him free
To run and play
But he held on and, okay
I must admit I was defeated 
Because the song of my heart had retreated 
Into itself 
And mental health 
Is the order of the day
As they order me to go away
And just lie still 
Like the wars they wage never will 
Fall silent like the sounds of guns
When they realise you are the one 
Who will make the difference to the child 
Who thinks he is alone in the wild 
And I’m looking at screens 
At Gaza and broken dreams 
And it seems like there’s nothing I can do 
But powerlessness is a choice too 
And somehow I reach out to someone 
And let them know there is a sun 
Behind all the smoke 
That starts to choke 
The young in the fog 
And the fire log 
Is not enough to keep me warm 
When others must endure the storm 
Of always being in the wrong place at the wrong time 
And they talk about a war crime 
But how about just stop 
Being the evil that you’re not 
Not in your core
This is not for humanity anymore
There is an open door
And the light is pouring through
Does anyone feel it enough to say “I’m with you”?

The Great Revelation

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The Great Revelation is that it’s smoke and mirrors 
And the buttons she presses throw me in the horrors
As she speak about how she see
And it is so different from me 
As I paint a landscape 
She wants to escape 
Into the green 
But she’s always been 
Lost in the grey 
And when I say 
Maybe it’s not okay 
She’d hit me with the butt of her rifle 
And say it’s not time to stifle 
The truth of the matter
And then she would batter 
Me with her facts
And you can’t take it back 
Any more than the sky
Can take back the tear it cries from it’s eye
In a season or two 
The duplicity came from you 
Into the serene 
And life is better when you wake the dream 
Up from where it stands 
And there are lands 
That lie untraversed
And no one would expect your manners to be rehearsed
But they are
And every star
That burns 
Is light years away
And though light is born it cannot stay
And must collapse into a black hole
I wonder if that’s what happens to the soul 
When it meets it’s end 
And the colourless light is the only friend
I have these days
There are so many ways
To splinter the prose 
And take less travelled roads
I never thought that I’d be 
Twenty years on still wondering about destiny
Amid the runes 
And the sand dunes 
As it filters through air
I know the feel of it because I was there

Clicking The Button Again

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Am I clicking the button again
You know, the one when I asked you to be my friend 
And I know that all things end 
But something endures
As the water pures
The silt and the sand
And your hand 
Is still in mine
After all these years of time 
And I know that you’re with her
It doesn’t erase what we were 
And somewhere in this heart I own
There are birds that have flown 
To your side
And you’re still alive
In spite of attempts to the contrary
And I used to pray to Mary
To save my grandfather from death
But it hasn’t worked yet
Except to take his soul to the highest light
So I probably should forgive her, right? 
And I spilled my heart to you 
But it didn’t go the way I wanted it to 
Or that I thought it would 
And you are good 
Better than most
But you still sound as though you’ve just seen a ghost
The ghost of me 
Come to haunt all that we never got to be

To Be Irish And Free

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To be Irish and free
Is this a part of our history 
That we could call a break with the past
Coz it’s been nigh on 1000 years since the last
Time empire didn’t darken our door 
And I couldn’t wish for anything more
Than the heart that beats in my chest
For the rest 
Of the world that still labours under
The sound of that thunder
As it quakes ground 
With artillery or the sound
Of the machinery of the day
Because they want to take away
All that we have come to know
But Love does not let us go
In spite of all the trouble 
And it is no bubble
That we just fell into 
It is the heritage we were born to 
Embody
And already
I can see the dawn
When the tendrils have withdrawn 
From their occupation of lands
And the dust and the sands
Yield no harvest
But I divest 
Myself of the poverty
And say all beings should be free
Of the mighty weight of bowing down 
And the water will not drown 
It will only nourish and refill 
What the darkness tried to kill
And it’s not a personal sin
It is just a deviation from Him
And the persecution dies
As the whole world tries
To shift the narrative 
And it is imperative
That we do not tolerate
What we’ve come to know as hate
As it darkens the door 
That has come to shatter on the floor
But the light just pours through
And it’s from within me and you 
There is no us and them 
There’s just a mistake we can’t make again

The Broken Wall

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Are our memories so short that we could call this history 
And the mystery 
Of the Emerald Isle 
Is how we survived the trial 
Of invasion 
And the abrasion 
Still shows in galactic consciousness 
As we struggle to address 
The appropriate evil to compensate
For why we were in that state
It seemed like there was nothing we could do 
Except rebel, rebel 
But it was a kind of hell 
As they starved the land of its people 
And we replaced futility with a steeple
And prayed to a God we knew not of
Because only Divine Love
Could be our salvation
As we were collateral damage for a nation
Who’s only goal was empire 
And I wonder they never tire 
Of the chains they induce
And they seduce 
The whole world with their lies
And now it tries 
To deceive again 
Because in the realm of men
Killing and war are necessary
But children are not an accessory
To the damage you do 
Yes, I am talking to you
You equivocate
And evaluate
What you do by some measure
But your treasure 
Is not to be found in the blood of the young
Or a people to succumb
To what you want to achieve
I know you believe 
In what you say
But I see another way
To mend the broken wall
Try letting the damn thing fall

The Courage To Speak

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He has the courage to speak 
And it makes me weak
To see a man in the stars
Behind prison bars 
That are self explanatory 
And this is a war so planetary 
As it drags the dust and the water 
Upon every son and every daughter
Of Palestine 
That the shame should be mine
For losing this on my watch 
I just stare at the clock 
Every morning and hope that he 
Has weathered the storm that we 
Are safe from here in Éire 
It’s not fair 
That you should have to suffer 
And you may love Her
But you shouldn’t have to entertain 
This kind of rain 
In this season 
And there is no reason 
This is happening but that 
Some people did something they can’t take back 
And the wrath
Ensues
What the god of men does when it cannot pay its dues
It says what it does not know 
And it holds on when it should’ve let go 
Long ago 
And I just sit and stare 
And pray that you’re still there
Behind a screen 
Here’s to you and the scream 
That pierces the night 
I guess there is no good fight

Rebelling Against What I Know

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He thinks he has something to give to me
But I’ve been set free
And your cocaine soul 
Is not enough to intoxicate and roll
Me up like a cigarette 
At least, it hasn’t yet 
And you show your cards to the deck
But you don’t see the summer that you wreck
When you try to tear me down
And rip shreds into my beautiful gown 
The one I wore to the dance
And I’m all about a second chance 
But forget about a third
Because I am a bird
And I’ll fly away from here
I won’t be tethered to you, dear
Not in any of your dreams
You can burst all of the seams
And it still won’t be enough to take 
The part of me that I will not forsake
You say you’ve been misunderstood
And all you’ve ever meant was the good
That human beings aspire to 
But I was there when you 
Pulled the switch on the phone 
Called me a bitch and left me alone 
To face the dragons that breathe 
Down my neck and seethe 
With the fumbling weight of time 
And I never did call you mine
Because you always moved from the casing 
So now I’m intent on erasing 
All that you were to me 
Is it enough if I set you free?

Freedom

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What is freedom?
Does it start with a war? 
And when it’s over
Do you know what it’s for? 
Because I’m watching all these children bleeding
And I want to give them what they’ve been needing
Peace in a world gone mad
And I don’t think that the leaders are bad 
Just misled
They lead with a rifle instead
Of the hearts they have betrayed
And I am dismayed
As it happens under my watch
And I’m staring at the clock 
Hoping for a ceasefire to break 
As they blow things up for their own sake 
And I fight the wind
For my sins
Like Byron Katie says 
There are many ways
To the top of the mountain 
But their tears are a fountain 
And I cannot pretend I don’t feel the rain 
As it pours over me over and over again 
Writing what will be 
I just pray that we all see 
What we are doing when we ignore
Our own fall away floor
That drops the bottom out of what we thought we knew
If it happened to me, it could happen to you 
In waves and in the ocean 
Women are not all emotion 
We are feeling beings 
And I am the seeing

From The Green Green Grass Of Home

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From the green, green grass of home
Leave them alone 
Don’t drop the rubble on limbs
Meanwhile the soldier grins
Despite his terror 
And the error 
Of all that has come to pass 
Is that somehow it cannot last 
In spite of all the flying swords
And the politicians with words
Seek to distance the fold
From the aforementioned fields of gold
And it’s like a story that has always been told
That somewhere in the midnight
It all breaks into daylight
But it takes some time to show
And I hold on as he’s letting go
And my tears are like a wave to crash
On a shore where my grief will smash
Everything to pieces 
Why is it that everything deceases 
And moves away from where it’s been 
If life is a dream
Then does it wake
When the earth quake 
Will all that is not true
I lay my head into you

The Heavy Weight Of Supposition

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The heavy weight of supposition 
Fills their guns with ammunition
And they use it to fire at the foe
I hold on and then I let go 
Of what anchors me to the earth
And sometimes love has to hurt
For it to be real
The power to feel 
Everything that’s come to pass
Will the darkness last
Or will it give way
To the long longed for break of day

Looking For Liaisons

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She’s so pure and undefined
And I daren’t touch her with my mind 
Because it’s a tenuous thing 
And I’m always wondering about that ring 
And what it might mean 
All I seem to know is that something woke the dream 
Up from where it lay
As it issued from me that day
And I called it God laughing at me 
But it was more than that, my spirit had been set free
Not to lie dormant or peaceful as the grave
I have things to do and people to save
And I remain mute and I remain dumb
But I watch as the world succumb
To the worst of the evil and I’m reminded of the quote
That someone somewhere mysteriously wrote
That evil thrives when good people do not act
So I set forth on a path I can’t take back 
And I would not erase what has caused me trouble 
And now there are people buried under the rubble 
Of all that has fallen 
And does the darkness hear it calling 
In the midst of this sea
What if it is all up to me
To play my part
And to do it with heart
But I defer
To the wisdom that issues from her
And she denies
That this world of beauty could be all lies
As maya contains
The reason for all of the pain 
That has avalanched 
On the tree as the various branched
Out from the core 
Now I don’t know who I am anymore
But I trust 
In the thing that propels me, I must
Get it out of here
And let her know I still hold her dear

The Audacity

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They’re using gas
To break down the resistance
To wipe a people from existence 
And I know it’s not a popular opinion 
But how do you defend war
Even when you think you know what it’s for
As children die and adults scream
Because this is not just a dream 
We are having, a shared collective thread
This is about people murdered in their bed
As the vast swathe goes by unconcerned
As people watch their families burned
I try it raise my voice to say
This is not okay
As Palestine, oh, Palestine
One day there will come a time 
Where the indigenous don’t rot 
In a land time forgot 
When the powers that be know the worth
Of the innocent they choose to hurt
And I know they have plans, I know they have reasons
But this winter has no seasons 
And no hope to abate
Don’t make our brothers and sisters wait
To be considered human
Wake and realise what you’re doing
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Tidal Waves

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If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me
And just forget the world

Snow Patrol
I watch the fallen blow like leaves
Killed for the sake of something they believe
And society manipulates
And makes you think that dates
Are the only measure of your success
Not a man til you watch a woman undress
But they’re lying in the aisles
And there are no styles 
That can save you from that state of mind
A generation left behind 
By the ruthless search for progress
You think you’re a “loser” but I confess
You have always been king in my eyes
But more, a love that never dies
And you take the knife
Take my hand, take a wife
It’s all in the possession
And my confession
Turns around on me 
As you resolve to let me be free
When I just want your arms around me, tight
But are you alright 
And you doubt my sanity
“Coz who would love the worst of me” 
I see the man I adore
Lying on the floor
And my eyes tear up
Don’t you know you’re everything to me, love

Inaction And Powerlessness

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Motaz Azaiza 
I believe ya 
When you say that we will do nothing
I crave to turn motion into something
To call on the sea, to call on the tide
To leave you alive
Because you are not just a number
And people are dying of hunger 
In the Gaza Strip
Meanwhile some men equip
Themselves with guns
Someone’s daughters, someone’s sons
And we are the ones
With our hands on the triggers because we pay
For people to get blown away
Whether in silence or in voice
Every movement is a choice
And I want to you to know you’re not alone
Though I only have a phone
To talk to you through 
But I wanted to
Say that I will do all in my power
To make sure that no other tower
Is blown to pieces and knocked to the ground
While children scream and hide from the sound 
As the rubble hides bodies brutalised
And you may be less than human in their eyes
But the light that lights you up
Is more than enough for me, love
Please don’t let the dark encounter
The vulnerable who want you 
To just let them be
In my heart and soul Palestine is already free

I Set Fire To The Burn

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I set fire to the burn
And the world took it’s turn
Setting alight
I watch the people fight
And I stand back
Because what I lack
Is adequate composure
So I pose for a photo with some exposure
And people are dying in the streets
Just so we can meet 
At the point where the grass becomes the road
And if you look it’s not mowed
It’s just wildflower long
And my song
Is something unique 
That I cannot speak 
Unless I’m on my own
And I’ve shown 
Too much of December 
To remember
All that I thought I was
I lived my life on pause

The People, Please

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I just want the people, please
If you want me on my knees
Praying to the sky
Then don’t let humanity die
Give me voice and give me room
Let them know help is coming soon
To relieve them of their pain
Because they are in tents with rain
Or burned to a cinder 
No hope for people to remember 
And it’s not just in one zone
It’s when people forget their home
And try to take something else
Because they’re lacking inner wealth
I watched it in my own veins
I felt it in a hundred tear stains
That fell upon my cheeks 
Until I was tired and weak 
And running from the gulf between us both
I want to be someone people can quote
When they need inspiration
And the tv station
Is no help to us
It just measures broken trust
And relates all the confusion
I watch the skin go blue with bruising 
When the pressure was applied
And people died
And I cried
And mourned in my room 
Candles to ward off the doom 
That would just circle the fray
I was not okay
But I’d be damned if I’d let anyone see
Coz my pain was precious to me
Til God split the sky
Said; “child of mine, they do not die
They are just returned 
To the place where death is burned”
And I could feel this holy light
Lift me up and I was alright
So I put one front in front of the other 
And found strength enough to catch my brother 
When I felt his weight slip 
And reach for rifles to equip 
His pain with something he could touch
But I whispered, “I love you so much”
And he let the artillery fall
And where there once was a wall
Now there is open space
And we embrace
All of the time
He is not mine
And I’m not his
We are each other’s and we live
In peace, how do we share
This with others, do we dare
To be the mountainous refuge 
They say to run but I refuse
To be bitten by the wild 
Coz within I am just a child 
And see everything in the hue
Of my love for all of you 

					

	




					
						


		

		

			
The Wars From Afar
		

		
.Reading time 2 minutes.

		

			






I was a teen when the war in Iraq broke out
And there was nothing I could do to stem the doubt
That no one should be invading a land
That they simply do not understand
And dictators come in many shapes and sizes
Some of them would be surprises
Because what’s viewed as a just war
Only depends on what you’re looking for 
And the bullets will be forever silent
If we abdicate the violent
And you could say I’m a pacifist
And we simply should not exist 
Because we put stability in danger
When we say that the manger
Should not starve a baby boy
And a gun is not a toy
And I’ve never been burdened by strife
I just rebel when he wants a wife
To make a house and home
But I love being on my own
Free to admire
Now I’m watching buildings on fire
And children screaming for their parents 
Wondering where the hell they went 
Not knowing, and maybe by grace
They get to see their faces
Again
And you can blame men
But it is the ego
It shoots what it doesn’t see though
And I am no liberator 
The queen of whatever and see you later 
But I can’t be superfluous about this 
It is not stuck in a kiss
It is in a scene that I could change 
If I just rearrange 
The way I see things play
Because it will never be okay
To raid a village and plunder and thieve
And feed the enemy things they might believe 
So that you can further your agenda
And you have some friends that will defend ya
But the foundations are rocky and unstable 
And what was born isn’t able
To reign in the suspense
Compassion’s in the present tense
And it is the only way
To redeem the wolves that bay
To the moon we all see
Let’s let the past be history

					

	




					
						


		

		

			
The Age Of Fear
		

		
.Reading time 1 minute.

		

			

The age of fear when dragons rule the roost
And I like a button to give my ego a boost
And people click on things that resonate
The algorithm on your dinner plate
And there are people in Africa who find the ore
And the metals that make you want more
Does Apple pay them their due
I’m not trying to slander, I just wonder, do you
As in the Congo, the war rages
And we flick the screen like flipping pages
On a story we don’t want to hear
But I feel every single tear
You could call it empathy or a burden
But how do people know that you’ve heard them
If there’s no one there
And the forest does care
About every single tree
Because each one makes up the map of me
And we are all brothers and sisters
The fire burns and the skin blisters
On friends and foes
It’s wild country and anything goes
Because they have the power
And the tower
Fell from on high
I watched the people die 
Screaming or in silent registration 
No one could change that TV station
Because it played on the airwaves
As firemen saved
All they could 
And it’s written in blood
But I try to flood the plain
Because I don’t want that to happen again
But an eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind
Is there hope for humankind? 

					

	




					
						


		

		

			
The Higher Dimensions
		

		
.Reading time 1 minute.

		

			

The higher dimensions call to me
And they ask to be set free
From all the chains Earth entails
Because their starship never fails
To broach the boundary of sky
I wait and watch while people die
In Palestine
But it’s justified so “it’s fine”
Are the people in Gaza even human
Because what are the forces even doing
To innocent men, women and child
I look and see that the land is wild
With sunset in the air
And a sea that beats the coast with care
And you may say it’s anti-Semitic 
To go against the rhetoric
That is spilling from the screen 
Because war is always a scream 
And there’s nothing we can do about it
So why should I even doubt it 
Like when they invaded Iraq
All the world that I held back
From speaking aloud and true
Coz they might do something to you
But they destabilise
And become dictators in their eyes
And I know the soldiers are just boys
Firing guns like they’re toys 
Never knowing what they do
To the people who are facing you
But somewhere in my blood
I can see a realm that’s good
That goes beyond the tears
And it’s been with me for years 
Somehow my Irish skin
Shouts out to say “I am with Him”
And the Jesus that I know
Was Palestinian also so 
I must speak before the quiet 
Becomes an unholy riot 
And sets fire to the world 
I’ve never been just a girl 

					

	




					
						


		

		

			
The Oppressive Class
		

		
.Reading time 1 minute.

		

			

The oppressive class
Think that their power will always last
And they’re always doing it for a reason 
Til their punishment is open season 
And the subordinates get even
With people they don’t want to be believing 
And you could say that kindness kills
And good intentions and foreign wills
Mask the wound as the blood spills 
Out onto my shirt
It may have hurt
When they struck me down
But I’m not giving up on this down 
And it is for my own health
They say they must steal my wealth 
From me 
But there is something that will always be free
In the green, green grass of home 
There is something that you have never known 
As you paint a beach of waifs 
But I am not trying to escape 
The cup that’s been handed to me
I’m just trying to reflect the free
In the prism that casts it’s hues
And he people who pay their dues 
In the mindfulness class
It is not part of the past
But of the Now
And I know you will realise somehow 
What I’ve been trying to express
In my state of undress 
As I spell it out in monotones
What I couldn’t hide from iPhones
As they responded to my touch
And scared away what I loved so much 
Into the fold of open season
Have you ever loved someone without reason? 

					

	




					
						


		

		

			
From The River To The Sea
		

		
.Reading time 3 minutes.

		

			

They chant the verse 
And I rehearse
For my own tune to own
My, how the flowers have grown
On this land
Where the empty sand
Used to hold the bones
And the stones 
Of what once were homes
Of those who emigrated 
Or died in the peat bogs evacuated
And they call it An Ghorta Mhor 
But let me whisper to you, a stór 
That it was a genocide
As they starved the ones who died
Just so they could export their grain
Grown on a ground green with rain
And the invisible hand
Of economics understand
That you cannot intervene 
Or you will shatter the dream 
That says that individuality
Brings about the best reality
And is a self balancing axis 
Now, we’re watching equivocation pay our taxes
And export our problems to a foreign scene 
And there may no longer be a queen
Who says who gets to live or die 
But Elizabeth nodded her head to those who cry
In memory of those slain
Do you think that I forget the pain
Just because I’m young and free
And no one has ever harmed me 
In the way that is described 
By the history books I pried 
From my own fingers, harrowed to the core
And it’s not happening anymore
Here
But I fear
That a child bombed by the IDF 
Has no chance to call for the ref
To call an end to the game
Coz the sides aren’t level and if it’s all the same
I’d rather not watch the slaughter
Of someone’s son or daughter
To satisfy regality
I’ve had enough of that to destroy me 
Being Irish on Celtic soil
There were years I felt my blood boil 
At the memory of what had been done
Now I am the one
Who can speak up to say
This is not okay
And if you make rubble out of homes
You poison your own stones
As they’re thrown into the pit
It’s not something I can sit with 
And just say it’s the way things are
We are all warmed by the same star 
And it heats every grain of sand 
It is not limited to the realm of man 
But to all of God’s creatures
To the expression of nature’s features 
As it turns on us to express
That we cannot suppress
The sacred feminine within
Just to satisfy the man that would win
The war
You want a reason but what for? 

					

	




					
						


		

		

			
My Studies
		

		
.Reading time 3 minutes.

		

			

I wanted to be ready when the time came
So I studied hard and made my name 
On the college scene 
As someone who knows how to dream 
And I did business studies then politics
International relations to call it quits
And I only did so so
But I’m not here to excel in what you want me to know
I want to know the frame of mind
That means we can leave 80% behind 
When we talk about the global north
And we dream of sipping tea on our front porch
Without realising the claim to land 
Is something the poor can’t understand 
Coz farmers in India barely survive
And many don’t want to be alive
At the subsistence rate
Save the kids from the parents fate
Is what they state 
When asked in a questionnaire 
And I know it isn’t fair
But isn’t that just life, they say
But what if it doesn’t have to be that way
I see another path
One where God’s wrath
Is not the standard bearer 
And no carer 
Goes unpaid 
Just so that girl “slayed”
In an instagram post
But you look like you’ve seen a ghost
But maybe it’s just the starving frame
Of a child in Africa - always the same 
Isn’t it
And your quick wit
Won’t absolve you from 
The privilege you’re holding wrong 
So I must write to make it okay
And who will listen to what I have to say
If I say it on my own 
But the colours that the prism has thrown 
Has shown 
Me that there is another might
Than the dark of night 
And that a dawn to break 
Is the place where the people wake 
And see that their brother is their friend
And their neighbour must make amends 
With who he’s come to be
And every child is born free
To a woman in our history 
Or a non binary folk 
Must we make the weak carry the yoke 
And pull the weight up the hill
Does a country have the right to kill 
Its own citizens or its enemies in fields
In martial arts the one who yields 
Is the one who the wind blows with 
And the flow is not something that can stick 
To the pan when you’re flipping eggs
Don’t say that we’ve made our beds 

					

	




					
						


		

		

			
The Complicity
		

		
.Reading time 1 minute.

		

			

I can’t stand in complicity
Then say I stand for humanity
Because I give money to charity
For people in foreign lands
Who land has turned to sands
But I cannot countenance the destruction
Of a Western aided genocide
And just go along for the ride
That is sold to us on TV
That to defend yourself is the right of the free
And that terrorism
Is the great schism 
Of our times
And war crimes
Can go unnoticed
Because we have voted
These people in 
And the one who win
Has the right to say
That it is okay 
To drop tonnes of dynamite 
On people who have no way to fight
Back and protect what they own
But the seeds have been sown
By colonial occupation
And you cannot just change the station
And pretend it is not happening 
Whether you are left or right wing
Because you are uneducated 
Get a phone and erase what you’ve stated
And find a way to bridge the gap
If you don’t know the way then find a map
And don’t believe the lines of paper
That would tell you you have to hate her
For love to be real
Is colonialism another word for steal? 

					

	




					
						


		

		

			
Candlelight
		

		
.Reading time 3 minutes.

		

			

I’ve been a descendent of the lands that they take 
And it’s not just about the violence they wake 
When they slaughter before them
There will be more of them 
And it’s not about blood or race
Religion or the colour of your face
It is inherent in the human condition
To go in search of ammunition 
When you feel that you are not enough
And the lack of love
Drops bombs or sets guns to fire
I found some place higher 
And in that state 
There is no earthquake 
To shake the buildings that we construct
And you could say that the world is fucked 
But there is something to deliver
There is but a sliver
Of hope in the hearts of many
Who will hold out peace when there isn’t any
To salve the wound that the rubble breaks
Can we do it for their sakes
Ask for artillery to be quiet
And the people start a riot
When they sense the disturb
And if love really is a verb
Then it is something which we must serve
And I watch the sea of Palestine
Beat the shore that used to be mine
And try to gain a reception
In the minds of those who without exception
Seek to destroy
Is it not about the little boy
Who shakes in the hospital ward
All alone and untoward
And we have been conditioned to fear
Those who are not near
With a different creed
But when I see the people bleed
Something stirs within my soul 
And the waves cannot but roll 
Unto the valley in the shadow of death
They justify but I cannot forget 
What my ancestors felt when they were starved
And the population more than halved
As the gravestone where they’ll bury me
Bears the names of those who were not free
To feed the family they grew 
And they used bodies and bones to populate the few
With trinkets of the masses
And they separate into classes 
What is only every one 
And the Son
Of God was born in a manger 
Now those same children are in danger 
Of being extincted by the war planes
And no one even knows their names 
As they lie in a white bag 
Their remains a reminder of the flag
We should be waving
Because each person is worth saving 
And no one is beyond humane
Compassion for family is always the same 
And we are one people, on civilisation
So if you can be the equation
That balances this uneven spirit level 
And we may have a taste of Heaven 
While still on this earth
We were not born to hurt
But to bear witness to the glory of the Supreme
And just because the dream 
Is a nightmare
Doesn’t mean it should scare
You from doing what’s right
If it’s dark, be the candlelight 

					

	




					
						


		

		

			
The Wonder And The Dance
		

		
.Reading time 3 minutes.

		

			

There is wonder in the dance
And you think about a second chance
To do everything over
But would you take it if you didn’t know her
And had to live the death again 
The taking away of women and men 
And I know I may be traumatised
By a past life where people died
Beyond my control 
And there is a shake, rattle and roll 
That soothes my soul 
Like an old car on the way to the Mega Bowl 
To celebrate a birthday or two
Eleven years old and walking with you
Into our teens 
And all the screams 
Fall silent sometimes 
There was horror in this childhood of mine
As I lay in my bed and dreamed
Then woke up paralysed and screamed
And ran out of the doors 
Into the light and love implores
Me to just take it easy
But I’ve never been so breeze
As I was at twenty two
Just after discovering you
And the lightness held 
In the depths that weld 
Themselves to my heart 
I know it’s about the taking part 
But somehow I’ve always wanted to win
The prize, the guys, the loyalty of him 
But it doesn’t work that way
And all I can really say
Is that the writing has called me since I was yay high 
And I know the people die
In foreign lands 
At the hands 
Of those who claim to be just
And broken dust 
Falls like paper burnt to cinders 
Ashen and my fingers limber 
Yearn to call them out 
Like darkness in my own self doubt
Is the world on a turning point to see
That good can be bad when it isn’t me 
And I would never do you wrong
But when people belong
To a tribe and dwell
They can inflict all kinds of hell
On those who have no way to defend 
The hearts that break only to mend
Themselves in solid steel
Can you blame the way they feel 
When they suffer in the rubble
And the ground shakes to signal trouble 
In the outer sphere 
If your compassion doesn’t extend to fear
Then is it real 
And can I heal 
And be the wholeness to embrace
The people that the pain deface
And I watch his eyes
As a child cries 
Before his lens 
Is it too late to make amends 
And ask for a ceasefire to be held 
I know the North of Ireland well
And somehow it has been a fragile peace
Not watching another youth decease
In the wreckage of flame 
Everyone has a name 
That they go by
To their loved ones and the lie
Is that there is no way to be 
When you’re running from history

					

	




					
						


		

		

			
The Midnight Repose
		

		
.Reading time 1 minute.

		

			

There is a midnight repose
Somewhere in the path I chose
And it is the end of many roads
But somehow the water just flows
And lets me know, lets me see
That somehow it is not just me 
In this fragile boat on water
That in depth for God’s daughter
There is a Son
And he lets me know he is the one 
Who has come to save my soul 
So though the boat may rock and roll
The fear cannot overturn me
Nor the fire burn me 
In the winter time 
Or the subterfuge that is mine
As I lie in wait
And let go of all the hate
That has fuelled my indecision
Oh, the memory of the derision
Of being fourteen years old
Of being weak and being told 
While the war planes bomb Iraq
Into an oblivion they cannot take back
Now the drone hover over Gaza
While it is snowing at the plaza
And people skate and people drink
But do you ever stop to think
What if it was you
Who had nothing to do 
But watch the tearing force of stains
And phosphorous in the rains 

					

	




					
						


		

		

			
Stepping Out Of LIne
		

		
.Reading time 2 minutes.

		

			

Am I stepping out of line
To say that a war crime
Is not something I can bear to see
The silence that gets the best of me 
As I struggle with some imaginary chains
But sometimes you just have to let the rains
Fall upon the lands so green 
And this ground has no queen
Who would rule and lord over all the grass
As least not the kind of noble that would last
On any kind of throne
God is the source of the place I call home 
And It issues from every space I step 
It is the space of no regret 
But somehow I lose fifteen years 
In silence and in tears 
As they struggle to contain 
The part of me that is all rain
And I fear to write
About all of this shite
I feel the tendrils encapsulate 
And tell me what I should and should not state
They call it OCD 
Then go and change their tune on me 
It’s psychosis, there’s creaks on the stairs 
And there are reams of unanswered prayers
Just sitting in the envelopes marked send 
When will this torture end
As I try to be somebody but my twin flame
Comes back and calls my name 
As I lie awake in bed
Why can’t I get him out of my head
And is it trivial to say that his love
Fits me like my grandmother’s glove 
The ones she used to wear to mass
When I was a child in class
Reading about the Second World War
Now the urging is what it is for
As I strive to be the voice that speaks 
But there is nothing for weeks and weeks 
As the flood builds up behind the damn
Do they know who I am 
When they destroy 
Every bit of girl and boy
In the strip 
There’s a poisoned chalice and I take a sip 

					

	




					
						


		

		

			
The Machinations Of War
		

		
.Reading time 1 minute.

		

			

I tried to scream but they stifled the cry
Now I must watch the people die
And it’s game over in the extreme
As people wake up from the dream 
And wonder what it is they have been doing
The empty hands they are pursing 
In the hope that it will bring them gold 
But they forget to look inside their soul 
To find what’s there to share
The loaves and the fish and people care
About each other
A bomb drops and another mother 
Hears her child’s stifled scream 
For the last time as the seam 
Is burst on the dress we sew 
And there may be people in the know 
But they can’t see what we are 
I look over at him in my car
As we drive to the sunset in my sky
But I watched the fading from view lie
In wait for every summer sun
You wake up and you are the one
Who will be the endeavoured in the replete
The woman may have washed Jesus’ feet
With her hair
But were you there 
When he let her be
And for free
Forgave what held her down
Like the men about the town
Who used her for what she could 
Only sell in that type of wood 
And the trees holds whispers still 
Feel the weight of heavy will 
Signal summer in the breeze
The weight is heavy but my knees 
Can finally lift their stone
And if I must I will leave home 

					

	




					
						


		

		

			
The Starship On The Edge Of Space
		

		
.Reading time 2 minutes.

		

			

She came so close to me 
It was like intimacy
But then she pulled the starship out 
And I don’t know then what I am about
As I share a secret too
We’re walking and I watch you
Spill the beans on me 
As I look back infinitely 
On who I thought I was 
Now I see see that all the loss
Was just a replicate
Of me in another life or state
And I had found him in the mirror
But it clears and I don’t see her
In the picture so I run
You’re all up for the fun
But I can’t trade a sunny day
For the ability to read the sacred way
Of the storms that come to bear
Can you really not see the fabric tear
As time accelerates
And we rapidly lose our estates
To the landlords they install
I leave so I answer the call
And the land knows what I am 
Generational trauma on the sand
And the wind blows through my hair 
As if it knows that I am there 
To take back all that they did to us
But I”m looking through windows like broken trust
At the situation in the Gaza Strip 
And the warlords they equip 
With weapons to rain down hell
On children who won’t live to tell
The story of the loss they bear
I see their still questing stare
Looking for someone to bear the brunt
Of what’s become a PR stunt
And a lesson in optics there 
I wish I could make them care
About the lives that they ruin
I don’t think they know what they’re doing 
When they press the button, go
It’s Christmas and there is no snow
In the land where Christ was born
It’s rubble that drifts toward the war torn

					

	




					
						


		

		

			
Have They No Mercy
		

		
.Reading time 3 minutes.

		

			

I don’t know where to start
But I know I am all heart
As I wear it on my sleeve
Quite literally, like you wouldn’t believe 
And it may be silver and gold
But there are a thousand stories never told
Like him leaving me in the ashes
Of the realm where the fire clashes
With the ice of cold that reign 
And they’re at it again
And there’s nothing that I can do
Except to write the stories of you
As you click another scene 
And it is like some kind of bad dream 
We are all living in 
And there is all manner of sin
That goes unreported 
How I wish this mission was aborted 
In its infancy
Not like the flesh and blood of illiteracy
That I read between the lines on his face
And it is a fucking disgrace
To think this could go on
And I have been silent for so long
But something calls my voice to speak 
And it’s not just because I’m weak 
That I dare to try
To cross the line of why
As the children cry
And I watch them all die
Through the pixels on a screen 
Do you hear the people scream 
When you go to sleep at night
And, no, it is not alright 
To just let it go
For the sake of spirituality and what you know 
Is right to be 
There is action that I can see
Moving the rope so taut 
Into a line where what’s sold is bought
By those who need it most
I type these keys like a ghost 
Who must haunt the halls of power 
Because they do not make me cower 
In fear and shaking skin
I just think of my love for Him 
And how He faced down the dark
And his hands bear the mark 
Of long ago in Palestine 
Now we’re living the modern day war crime
That sears the skin of children free
And if it was up to me 
I would break every gun 
But they say that everyone
Must tow the same line 
And it’s happening another time 
To crack the glass sphere 
Of the globe that, I swear, 
Has better in it to show 
But if you looked at the thing you wouldn’t know