Three Children Lost
This Poem Is Based On A True Story.
The story that this poem tells is that of one of the saddest in the history of the Troubles in Ireland. When an IRA man was shot dead, his car went out of control, ploughing into a family of four children and their mother, killing three of the children. The mother killed herself forty-one months later. She had a husband and three other children. At the time of the accident, she had four children, three of whom were killed in this incident.
This poem tells their story.
*
It was a sunny afternoon, Belfast at ease,
When all of a sudden, a sound broke the peace.
A car hurtles round he road up ahead,
And Danny Lennon, the driver, oh Lord, he's dead!
But oblivious up ahead is a young mum,
With her wee daughter, then toddler, then son.
Not yet aware that the route that they chose
Was bringing a danger that was now so close.
Wee Joanne's riding her bike along,
And little John is toddling in the sun.
Baby Andrew's being pushed in his pram,
And pushing him is his young, happy mam.
Then in moments so terribly cruel,
The sun on our backs turns suddenly cool.
The car hits the family, killing three;
Three more lives that will never be.
Eight-year-old Joanne – she's killed straight away,
And six-week-old Andrew – in Heaven he'll stay.
Two-year-old John is medically dead,
And poor Anne now has only one child instead.
Flowers, tributes, and small teddy bears,
Left at the place where there are so many tears.
Three children dead, a family torn apart,
Leaving the country with more broken hearts.
Poor Anne can't accept that they had to leave,
And the poor soul, she's trapped in her grief.
Forty-one months later, she joins them again,
And leaves us all asking: "When will it end?"
*
R.I.P Joanne Maguire, 8, John Maguire, 2, Andrew Maguire, 6 weeks, and their mother, Anne Maguire, 35.
The story that this poem tells is that of one of the saddest in the history of the Troubles in Ireland. When an IRA man was shot dead, his car went out of control, ploughing into a family of four children and their mother, killing three of the children. The mother killed herself forty-one months later. She had a husband and three other children. At the time of the accident, she had four children, three of whom were killed in this incident.
This poem tells their story.
*
It was a sunny afternoon, Belfast at ease,
When all of a sudden, a sound broke the peace.
A car hurtles round he road up ahead,
And Danny Lennon, the driver, oh Lord, he's dead!
But oblivious up ahead is a young mum,
With her wee daughter, then toddler, then son.
Not yet aware that the route that they chose
Was bringing a danger that was now so close.
Wee Joanne's riding her bike along,
And little John is toddling in the sun.
Baby Andrew's being pushed in his pram,
And pushing him is his young, happy mam.
Then in moments so terribly cruel,
The sun on our backs turns suddenly cool.
The car hits the family, killing three;
Three more lives that will never be.
Eight-year-old Joanne – she's killed straight away,
And six-week-old Andrew – in Heaven he'll stay.
Two-year-old John is medically dead,
And poor Anne now has only one child instead.
Flowers, tributes, and small teddy bears,
Left at the place where there are so many tears.
Three children dead, a family torn apart,
Leaving the country with more broken hearts.
Poor Anne can't accept that they had to leave,
And the poor soul, she's trapped in her grief.
Forty-one months later, she joins them again,
And leaves us all asking: "When will it end?"
*
R.I.P Joanne Maguire, 8, John Maguire, 2, Andrew Maguire, 6 weeks, and their mother, Anne Maguire, 35.