Ronnie McGinn's Poetry Page
| If you have a poem you'd like to see published in The Irish Examiner then send it to:
The Poetry Corner
The Irish Examiner USA
1040 Jackson Avenue, Third Floor
Long Island City
NY 11101
or, preferably, you can email it direct to
ronniemcginn@eircom.net.
If possible keep your poem to 20 lines. You may choose any subject you like, in any form you like as long as it's original. We look forward to hearing from you. |
Marion Rose Horgan of Cobh, Co. Cork, is a familiar name to this column. Her latest poem refers to the fallout from the Cloyne report on clerical sex abuse, people are reeling from it in Ireland.
There is a lot of anger, frustration and disillusionment around at the moment, particularly because of the failure of the Catholic Church to address the issue, and the resulting pain of those affected by these tragic circumstances.
Marion tells us she woke one morning recently and was rushing to a hair appointment when the words of the poem began to take root in her mind. By the time the hair appointment was finished, so was the poem, although she's not sure what the stylist thought of her "demented scribbles!" she feels our readers might give it some consideration.
Marion dedicates her poem to anyone anywhere who has been affected by this horrendous issue and hope that they find the strength to get beyond the pain and develop loving and trusting relationships.
The Wall
Nobody listened, they didn't want to hear.
And I was drowning in a sea of silence.
Lost and overwhelmed, by panic, shame and fear,
Banished to a dark deserted island.
Then a wall appeared, and there was no way out.
And I was groping in a deep abyss.
And the wall grew taller, fortified by doubt,
And I could feel the pain of Judas' kiss.
A wall, that dammed up all my tears.
A wall, that compounded all my fears.
A wall, blocking comfort and relief,
A wall, suppressing all my grief.
A wall, that would turn a heart to stone,
A wall, that left me so alone,
A wall, unyielding and unkind,
A wall that stole my peace of mind.
Nobody listened, they chose to turn away,
And silence screamed betrayal in my brain
Suffer little children, nobody can hear,
Bow your heads and offer up the pain
A wall, to sanctify the lies,
A wall, to dampen down the cries,
A wall, to hide away the truth,
A wall that stole away my youth.
A wall, that starved me of my sleep.
A wall, impenetrably deep.
A wall of power and control,
A wall, that crushed my very soul
Sorry won't take the pain away,
Sorry won't bring back yesterday,
Let's go where angels fear to tread,
And raze the wall and build a bridge instead.
© Marion Rose Horgan (Cobh)
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