My Hope

by Micheal Shriane

My hope tastes like a foreign wind carrying

Tales of joy and hope.

My hope looks like a glistening present with an even brighter future.

My hope smells like a burning fire lit to keep us safe.

My hope feels like a resting place 

After the day is done.

My hope sounds like cheers of freedom 

On the streets of joyful towns.

My hope is most secure in the welcoming of a 

Brighter day and dreams anew.

Written by Micheal Shriane, as part of Poetry as Commemoration workshops led by Terry McDonagh, in Castlerea Community School, Roscommon, in  November 2022. Transition Year students were invited to write a poem in response to Terry McDonagh’s poem ‘My Freedom One Hundred Years Later’, written in commemoration of the War of Independence.