Tag: solidarity

She Keeps The Gate

.Reading time 2 minutes.

***Trigger Warning – Mental Health Content***

She keeps the gate between here and the other world 
And I know I seem just like a girl 
Having an existential crisis
But all of my vices 
Are my greatest strengths
Why did I bother to tell her where it went 
Like some kind of suicide
That happened while I was still alive
I saw the scene
And realised it was a dream 
That we were walking through 
And I opened the door right in front of you 
As I pointed out the way the flaws
Are how the ice thaws
Out in an age of snow
And glaciers that move so slow
I will not let go
But I must meet this part of me
I thought I needed help but really I just needed to be free
To explore and name
The source of my secret shame 
As it plays out on a page
The book of me and the rage
I kept inside
But the part of me that I hide
Is the best thing I own
And I know it wasn’t shown
On my face that day in the clinic 
But I’m not in the game just so I can win it
I am here for all of you 
And I want you to know I’ve walked through the trenches too
And made my way out
So if you live in self doubt
Let the mirage escape
Like wind from a balloon in the shape 
Of a dog or tree
I wouldn’t tell you if it hadn’t happened to me

The Commensurate Struggle

.Reading time 3 minutes.
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 Girl That Stands On Guard

.Reading time 2 minutes.
She’s got it on lock
The dark she is not
She’s stellar, she’s a star
And I wonder what you are
As we fight to keep our heads above water
Swimming in currents that aim for caught her
As we span the ocean in a gaze
I wonder how many people she’s saved
As she throws a glance like a dagger across the room
And I dunno how to work the zoom
Function on my camera
But I just tie my bandana
Red around my head
And there have been so many left dead
By the dark side of the human psyche
I keep wondering what it is that ignite me
So I can burn like a fire in the hearts of men
Is it going to happen again
Or have we turned a corner on life on earth
Is there depth to transcend the hurt 
Or will the storm come to rage once more
I knock a rap upon the door
Coz I have to be let in
I know that there’s something there in him
That can spin a dial so right
I walk by the light
In your window 
Is it a sin though
To see what’s really beating a heart
If we abdicate do we take part
In the slow drive to floor
The ground that crashes to meet us, a stór
Or can stars hold space
For us as we lay waste 
To all we’ve known
Have the people grown
Up and out of a tendency
But I feel the collective pull at me
To get me to identify
But I can’t let the children cry
For what we’ve done to them and us
Is it a mirror of broken trust
That we catch ourselves upon
We’re going down but love isn’t gone
Not yet or forever
Can we be the sky that knows the weather 
That spins a chrysalis 
As a diamond kiss
The pressure that we’ve known thus far
I feel like we can only drive this car
A certain length down the road
Has our maturity showed
As we stand up to the shelter
I close my eyes coz this is a belter