THE TROUBLES

I should stay out of the storage room. It’s too full of old files, poignant memories, temptations to blog.

This time, I stumbled onto a file entitled “Larry Brennan’s Song.” It was nineteen years ago. Northern Ireland was still mired in “The Troubles” and suffering from endless rounds of murder and revenge between the Catholics and the Protestants of Belfast.

USA Today carried a story about a 52 year old Catholic cab driver who was assassinated while sitting in his parked taxi.

I wrote a song about it:

The Legacy of Larry Brennan

Twenty-five days after Christmas Morn

         In dear old Belfast Town

Assassins hailed a taxicab

         And gunned the driver down

Well, he died for being Catholic

         He died for being Green

His sweetheart was a Protestant

         She’ll never be his queen

No, she’ll never be a Brennan now

         She’ll never share his bed

The Troubles split poor Larry’s brow

         The Troubles left him dead

Now, he was a gen’rous witty man

         Who loved most everyone

And for his kindness he was paid

         Four bullets from a gun

Oh, he had no time for politics

         He helped the sick and old

His killers didn’t care at all

         They left his body cold 

Yes, the Troubles trouble Ireland

         A People torn apart

They took poor Larry Brennan’s life

         And broke his mother’s heart

Then his sister, Lish O’Reilly, stood

         Midst flowers in the hall,

And with good sense she spoke the words

         That echo for us all:

“I forgive them, those that did this thing”

         Her eyes were rimmed with tears

“They’re sick and wounded animals,

         Imprisoned by their fears.

“No, we can’t let hate and bitterness

         Control the Irish heart

If we’re to see the Troubles end

         We’ve got to make a start”

Tho’ two thousand years have come and gone

         Since Christ was crucified

The world still longed for peace on earth

         When Larry Brennan died.

Now his little house on Friendly Street

         Will never be the same

The World has built a friendly shrine

         In honor of his name

So let this be Brennan’s legacy:

         That vengeance won’t be seen

And peace will come to Ireland

         For both the Orange and Green

Historians tell us that the Irish Troubles erupted in 1968 and ended thirty years later with the Good Friday Agreement of 1998. As we gather to celebrate Christmas 2016, in a painfully divided America, let us pray that our troubles will soon be consigned to history as well.