Who was it
who suggested that the opposite
of War
Is not so much Peace as civilisation?
He knew
Our assassinated Catholic greengrocer who died
At Christmas in the arms of our Methodist Minister,
And our ice-cream man whose continuing Requiem
Is the twenty-one flavours Children have by Heart.
Our cobbler mends shoes for everybody; our butcher
Blends into his best sausages, leeks, garlic, honey;
Our cornershop sells everything from bread to kindling.
Who can bring Peace
to people who are not civilised?
All of These People,
Alive or Dead,
are
Civilised.
Michael Longley
Belfast
Ireland
~ Beannaichte'
28 September, 2018
@beannaichte.twitter.com
@beannaichte.twitter.com
~Born in Belfast, Michael Longley was a Writer Fellow at Trinity College Dublin in 1993. His works of poetry include 'No Continuing', 'An Exploded View', 'Man Lying on the Wall', and 'The Echo Gate'. He was awarded the 1991 Whitbread Prize for Poetry, and The Irish Times Irish Literature Prize for Poetry in 2001. In addition, he was awarded the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry in 2001 and is also a Fellow of The Royal Society of Literature.
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