The Weight of History

by Mairead McGrath

The Weight of History
Is overwhelming.

The Voices, The Voices, The Voices
Screaming in my head:

Glorious!
Beautiful Day!
Up the Republic!

Tears,
Heartbreak.
Who is talking about that?

From prison they wrote
To Mothers,
Sisters, Lovers.

Lives snuffed out,
All gone,
Gone
To the sound of a bullet.

The Silence
The Absence
The Loss
The Grief
The no children
Not just for one life
But for those left behind.

How do you live with Glory?

What are the voices in my head saying
Down through History?

Soldiers,
War,
Killing.

A Nation born out of war
Bubbles up again fifty years later.
It’s still with us

The Weight of History.

The Weight of History
Is overwhelming.

Reproduced with kind permission of the author. This poem was composed in Poetry as Commemoration workshops held at The Pearse Museum, Dublin, in October 2022. The workshops were led by writer Kevin McDermott.