"Reflections from a small Island"

By: Mary Cecil, Poet, retired, lives on Rathlin Island, NI. Website. Facebook, Twitter: Rathlin Poet.

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I am not a student except in the sense that as a poet, I study and observe the rich tapestry of life.
I write because I must. I'm driven to it and perhaps I feel time is pressing on me. I've lived through turbulent times and remember great events such as ' The Cuba Crises', The Vietnam War' 'The assassination of Kennedy' . I was a teenager in the sixties but knew nothing about drugs and all that scene, I was too busy trying to escape a poverty driven childhood. Still such an era had it's effects nevertheless. 

Today I have a keen interest in current events and use my poetic skills to write protest poetry, especially anti- war, so I guess I'm a true sixties type of person. I also enjoy writing spiritual poetry so I guess that clinches it.

Here is an example which I submitted to a site dear to me.'Poetry for Peace-Words against War' which is supported by writers from all over the world. The hope is that a collection could be published and donated to schools in each country in the world. So at this moment it's a work in progress. Thank you for taking the time to read this, whoever and wherever you are .

'Waiting for Civilisation'
There's a song on the wind,
That sings to the human heart
The eternal longing for peace,
An end to suffering

The gentle song that rises and falls,
Softly, seeking entrance
That flows like a river,
To an ocean of turbulence

And the bending will of man,
Is distorting the conscience
It's always them, not us,
We have the right

The sinister minds that stir,
The seas of greed and fear
Blending and blinding,
For the few, not the many

And all good things are lost,
In our world distorted
The crying unheard,
The hardening of our hearts

The hour is paused,
Waiting for civilisation
Not for glory or treasure,
But peace, peace, perfect peace