As They Lay Him Down
As they lay him down… Madiba…
Let them not forget,
Forgiveness, what he though them,
For hatred, now subdued, can yet,
Tear the Rainbow Nation apart,
Hatred of other tribes and of Whites,
We seen enough of that elsewhere already,
On our screens on the news at nights…
And heard it in our own island,
Stories from North Longford I can tell,
Of how hatred bred from history,
Turned a pleasant land into hell,
Grudges of blood and deeds gone before,
In minds dormant remain,
To be fanned when times get tough,
Man in a bog lies, killed by slane,
True to the principle of sins of the father,
Shall be visited on the sons,
Smallest of all the deeds
Of a peoples who negotiate with guns.
Let South Africa not be North Longford,
Transvaal not be West Belfast:
Orange Free State not South Armagh,
Let the peace be real, and let it last…
Let a distant corner of Africa,
Show the world what forgiveness really does mean…
Where colour does not really count,
In any disputes between
Sectors of society
That lives from hand to mouth…
We have enough worries in life
For mankind to worry about.
“Dead man in the bog… killed by Slane”
A local Anglo Irish landowner in north County Longford was killed by a native Irishman in a political row as they both cut turf in the 19th century. His family, who wewont name for fairness to all concerned, still live in the area, as do the family of the man who killed him.