Terrorism Failed
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I wrote this after the terrorist attack on the 7th July 2005. I was on duty in an outer London hospital and we took dozens of transfers from the main hospitals to enable them to take those injured in the bomb blasts. My son is a metropolitan policeman and I am oh so very aware of the dangers he faces every time he is on duty. This poem is about the memorial that was erected in remembrance of the 52 that died in 2005. However, in the light of the attack yesterday I feel that the poem's title is what I want to shout from the rooftops. Terrorism will always fail and will never defeat democracy and the right to live as a multi cultural society. It can never win.
United in isolated collectivity,
Standing erect for reflective solidarity,
Sited to enable individuality,
Symbolising the dead, the loss in totality.
So many damaged people, with so much to remind,
There are tear-laden memories for those left behind.
A tangible grief can still be heard in their voices,
Faltering as they speak out about that day’s choices.
Take underground trains or avoid confused crowds and fuss,
Diverted, turned back, decided to run, catch a bus.
Explosive devices never discriminated,
Primed bombs blasted apart, London was devastated.
They ripped through metal, taking and tearing precious lives
And scarred the future for each one who survives.
Destroyed calm, delivered terror with impunity,
Suicide bombers believed in their immunity.
Now peace, time taken for moments of contemplation,
Silent thoughts that bring an end to all conversation.
Remembered faces, the past a painful looking back,
Centrally listed, names on the newly engraved plaque.
Children run, play chase, amidst the memorial shown,
As people feel emotion, cry, prove that flesh and bone
Continues to exist, to love, to laugh and to weep
But, never to forget those whose memories we keep.
United in isolated collectivity,
Defiant, standing tall in solidarity.
There to celebrate the individuality
Of the murdered dead, fifty-two in totality.
Tragically their hopes, dreams were brutally curtailed
But, ours were not; we are strong as steel, terrorism failed.
Copyright © Mavis Jackson | Year Posted 2017
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