A poem from John Stevenson.

The absence of honesty in Northern Ireland’s current political debate is a huge cause for concern. We desperately need the ability to reflect dispassionately on our own history, beliefs and opinions and be able to admit to uncomfortable truths both to ourselves and each other. We have to be wary of, and learn to move on from, the ‘ding-dong’ type of discussion where one side’s faults are refuted by a corresponding list from the other side. A bit of honest reflection goes a long way.

 

I was not present, did not raise a hand

When my ancestors

Ploughed your people

Off their land.

 

I did not witness

The uprooting or the planting

Or hear how their foreign speech

Drowned out the native tongue.

 

I did not participate in

The godless sacrifice

Of some holy rituals

For some others.

 

I was born in Belfast and

Studied gerrymandering at school

Saw how democracy was subverted

By the fearful sons of those usurpers.

 

My father showed me

The battle lines in Belfast

And I learned of Cromwell

The B Specials and the Black and Tans.

 

Made uncomfortable

By all this history

I watched from the sidelines

As the Troubles exploded.

 

But from the perspective

Of my parents’ terraced house

I enjoyed no ranking privileges

Of the ruling class.

 

I went to school

And stumbled my way

To clumsy adulthood

Just like everybody else.

 

Why then, for my whole life,

Have I nursed this angry guilt

Spawned by that close migration

Of my trespassing forebears?

 

If they had not come

And I was born elsewhere

You could loose your victimhood

And I could loose my shame.

 

I do not love this place

Any less than you

And hate the thought that

My belonging is diminished.

  

And yet I feel the impulse

To say I’m really sorry

Without believing that

I am in any way to blame.

 

I nearly understand

How you must feel

And how your birthright

Is at odds with mine.

 

Could you set past grievances aside

And see for a moment through my eyes

Maybe understand this moment

We now share, without surprise?

 

For here is the thing

We need to comprehend…

Our ancestors were enemies but

That does not stop us being friends.