The Year It All Changed

by Michaela O’Flanagan

My Grandfather up from Roscommon
Parents still waiting to be born,
Gone to see the G.P.O,
Unknowing that his final hours was on that day-
An expecting wife at home waiting for his return,
A return that will never come.
Shots throughout O’Connell Street,
People running, screaming in fear.
A man wishing to be at home, finds himself lying
In a pool of blood instead of his bed.

Written as part of Poetry as Commemoration workshops for Transition Years led by Terry McDonagh and Mary Melvin Geoghegan in Castlerea Community School, Roscommon, in  October 2023.