Saying Nothing In Times of Troubles
by Michael Doyle

The only certainty is it doubles
To be silent in times of troubles
At least, Irish history reveals
How false belief in God steals

The soul of a broken nation
That is riveting in its salvation
That never quite seemed to come
For a holy ghost faded to numb

Like a living novel of pure drama
Scenes played out in unceasing trauma
Youthful passion bleeds into disillusion
To feel so confident about one's confusion

Only goes to show how wrong one can be
When all around a person is a travesty 
Caught up in a failed collective ideology 
That eroded all individual responsibility

No heroes, no villains, only history
Wrong convictions that feed the mystery
Of how we become overwhelmed by feeling
Beyond the point that there is no healing

Some moral conflicts feign complexity
When really maybe there should be simplicity
The simplicity of truly giving peace a chance
And daring to transcend the given circumstance

How do we end a fight filled with atrocity?
Eye for eye in a blind world's deadly anxiety
It's an endless procession of misdeeds and confession
Where lack of forgiveness is the culture's obsession

These are among the lessons mankind must learn
Perhaps where we begin is to try to discern
If any kind of God would want so much blood
To spill or if it's just man, less kind, mired in our mud

It's the truth, the curse, the deadly lie
When we pray unceasingly, though not knowing why
And after such a conflict comes to its end
Can a divided nation ever again be friends?

(c) November 21, 2024   Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved