Omagh 15th August 2010

Saturday afternoon in peacetime
the man said there is a bomb
no one took notice up here
we lived with warnings all
the time nobody noticed
we were looking for shoes
for the youngest they only
can wear brown shoes at
the convent school my wife
was in buying them we were
all there on the streets busy
getting the wains ready for
school in peacetime you see
the shop I was in blew out
I ran into a volley of screams
I searched for my wife she
was killed instantly covered
in rubble and dirt my children
where were my children I ran
the police tried to stop me
looking for my daughters
he sent me behind the line
I ran back only the priest
caught me and welded me
to the ground someone
shouted have you a ginger
haired daughter she is at
the hospital I found her
as they loaded her into
a helicopter bound for
another hospital in Derry
I lost myself I lost the plot
drank and drank myself
into black hole of despair
till one night I saw a photo
of my family and said to
myself hi boy you'd better
get a grip