Kids At War
© By Padraic Fiacc
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I
Irish kids sneer and jeer
At, salute with cat
-calls the dead body
Of the young British soldier
Gave up his life to save
The Irish woman and kids
Caught in the Spring
-field Road Barracks
About to explode …
II
The half-kid British soldier
On Lollipop Duty Day
Strolls
Into the sweetshop to buy
The Irish kids ice-lollies
Is shot dead
By an Irish kid
Waiting outside
(The one whose head
He rolled his cap on).
© Padraic Fiacc, Kids At War 1986
Padraic Fiacc draws on the particular horror of children learning to hate during troubled times.