Sanctus

for Gerald Dawe

Sinking on iron streets, the bin-lid-
shielded, battleship-grey-faced kids

Shinny up the lamppost, cannot tear
Themselves away, refuse to come in

From the dying lost day they douse
With petrol and set the town’s holy

Cows on fire, as if the burning bus or car
Could light up their eyes ever, much less
The burning of our own kitchen houses

Coming over the TV screen had held
Any surprises, for really, we
Wallow in this old-time Westerns, where
The ‘savages’ are bad
And lost the war because the white men

Always have to be the Good Guys.

© Padraic Fiacc, Sanctus 1986

Padraic Fiacc seems to be contrasting the chaos of the streets with the more orderly violence on television westerns.