By Patricia Keegan
Editor’s Note: For those who brought peace to Ireland, showing the world that strife really can end when people come together around leaders dedicated to peace.
Padraigin
I am of ancient Ireland,
Descended from the Celtic ghosts
Whose whisperings come on fragrant breezes
Laden with the scent of sea, moss, and bluebells
Trembling in the sun.
Four hundred years ago today, the spirits described a joyous tale.
Look across the land, they said,
Behold the soil adorned without a flaw,
Abundance flowing everywhere.
Now you are free to follow your true destiny,
To bring the world felicity.
Upon these words our wings were starched.
We built and soared and sang in praise,
Embracing all that we could see,
We lived in peaceful ecstasy.
As time went by new centuries came
And brought some bitter winds.
My island sighed and heaved bereaved
Adrift on the breast of the sea.
Divisions came, new walls were made,
But who could understand.
A child cries why, another dies
And sadness fills my land.
But now those whisperings come again,
The Celtic ghosts return.
A brilliant rainbow enfolds the sky
From Antrim to Tralee.
“Come take my hand and we’ll ascend
To find again our dream,
And bring to all of Ireland
Its rightful destiny.”