In Equal Measures We Hope And We Fear
That This Is A Turning Point As We Enter This Year
A Healing Balm Is Needed To Soothe Our Bodies,Minds And Souls
She Went For A Run, But Ashling Murphy Never Came Home
Growing Up As A She Child, Woman, Crone
You Have To Learn Very Fast How To Stay Safe
Get Yourself Safely Back Home
It’s Being A Fact Of Life For Far Too Many
As Women Countrywide Shared Their Own Experiences At Ashling’s Vigils They Cried
They Spoke Of Their Near Misses With Family Strangers, Friends
We As Women Are Scared, Fearful For Our Lives
It’s Not Right, It’s Not OK
Not To Be Able To Go Out In Broad Daylight
Where Many Walk, Run Or Roam
With Fear In Your Heart, Your Heart In Your Mouth
That You May Not Make It Home
Our Hearts Are Broken, Traumatically Open
Now Is The Time To Share With Gentle Care
We Are Sad, We Are Mad,We Are Bereft
That This Is Still Happening
Year In, Year Out
Find Your Voice Let Your Emotions Out
From Boy To Man Let This Watershed Moment Be The Beginning Of The End Of Gender Violence
“Masculine Toxicity Institutionalized Sexism.”
This Needs To Happen Sooner Than Later
Zero Tolerance For The Perpetrators.
Pauline Byrne 2022
Website aguidinglight.ie
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A Guiding Light
A selection of Isolation Poetry