Bridge Never Crossed

Standing above the flow
 That washes through history
 fields once filled with blood
 of victory still haunt the present

 Old routes meander as footsteps follow
 well trodden paths marching to rhetoric
 but here forgiveness lives in uncut meadows
 flowing in languid pools of gold reflections 

 Outsiders see only the beauty of peace
 hear only wind and stories of historic brutality
 distant fights based on prejudice and power
 but history lives on in the words from closed minds

 Looking from the old crossing in shadow and sun
 decorative construction of lattice peeling 
 the contemporary white bridge of peace
 seems so far away from this valley of the past.

Ciaran Burke