‘The Rebel’
© Michael Chambers 2016. All Rights Reserved.

Foreign lead flying through a Belfast street,
That struck me down from my feet,
As the blood from my body flows by,
The media will be telling how,
This man was a terrorist insane,
His group that caused destruction all around,
Have put many in the ground,
But what they won’t ever show,
My reasons that you must never know,
Of this war I did not start,
So many times has broke my heart,
When I stood in the street all alone,
Watching bitter orange flames destroy my home,
Being beaten by a soldiers gun,
Thrown into jail for nothing I’d done,
For no longer I could just stand by,
Listening to our children cry,
Their future could not be the same,
We had to break the chain,
Into my hand I took a gun,
I spent my days on the run,
The blood that was shed from so many,
How I wish there never was any,
All I sought was a normal life,
Smiling children and a loving wife,
But now as my role near its end,
I pray to Christ above to send,
An end to bitterness and divide,
Where Irishman stand together side by side,
Where we will be as one in the future,
To the sound of our children’s laughter.

Photo: Nephin Beg Mountains, Co Mayo