COMING SOON
“Out of respect for the abused children of the past and the innocent participants of the present, it is time for the Artane Band and School of Music to end the pain. Change the uniform. Change the name.”
To the Places Of Empty
- excerpt from film Land Without God
So, they held me tightly
morning, noon and nightly
away from my family,
away from me,
away from everything
to the places of empty.
They strip-searched my child's body.
Grabbed everything they could see.
Took everything they could find.
Ransacked my innocence.
Ripped apart my childhood virginity.
Slapped me black,
slapped me blue.
Bruised me back to front.
Kicked and booted me until my
young soul was twisted and smashed.
Hung my spirit by the throat
until the last frantic breath.
Corrupted and cracked every bone
in my ten-year-old body
and froze my once-warm blood
with the taste of their breath.
On and on it went.
If not me, then someone else.
No one could vanish.
Nothing could hide.
Harsh, cruel brutality
was our daily bread.
Forced on our knees at bedtime.
Hundreds of us, young boys,
prayed to a god that mocked us.
© Gerard Mannix Flynn
