In my scrapbook I have a cutting from 'The Mail on Sunday' newspaper dated May 17th. 1998; it is headlined 'Petrol bomber who became a poet for peace' and has a photograph (taken in 1969) of a boy rioter in Londonderry's Bogside (Northern Ireland) wearing a gas mask and holding a petrol bomb. Below there is also a photograph, some 29 years later, of the man that boy became now married with a family and seeking to play his part for peace. Here is the poem he wrote entitled 'A New Dawn'.
Pause, reflect: pray peace at last is near,
Each unto each must make love's message clear,
A land whose hearts are full of fear and hate,
Condemns its children to a joyless state,
Every biased, bitter word consumes a nation's soul,
Intolerance and bigotry can't make a nation whole,
Never forget, but learn to forgive, the wrongs of yesterday,
In remembrance can we steer our courage a calmer, kinder way,
Ring not the bells of victory before the battle's won,
Each must surrender something dear, all for the sake of the gun,
Let us reach out to each other, people of every kind,
Across the bloody barricades and borders of the mind.
Now the hand of history proffers happiness,
Dear God, please whisper in our souls an everlasting Yes.
by Paddy Coyle
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