Roses Lamented Long Gone
The issue of housing developed in an area where traditions such as Orange Walks are objectionable to the new residents is something that is still being worked on in the North of Ireland.
The old woman looks upon the houses
Where roses grew before
Now the screams of playing children
Where the roses grow no more
As they did in former times
When folk marched up to Drumcree
Without objection for no folk lived
Where now houses, not roses, we see.
He who built them, tied to a chair,
His house set in flame
By those whose folk got the houses
Who attacked him without shame.
Such repayment for the good works
Such ingratitude it shows
To the folk who lived here when there was no houses
Where now no longer the roses grows.
Drumcree, to us it is evocative
As we see the Orange cosh weilded
Being struck down on us mere Fenians
By the British masses feilded.
Prehaps there is truth on both sides
Stopped clocks are right twice a day…
But I think more beautiful than mere roses
Are happy families at play.