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An Improbable Toast To Peace & Prosperity

By Pat Gallinagh

As we celebrate St. Patrick’s Day let’s take a moment to reflect
A historical event in Ireland that few if any did ever expect
The relationship between Ireland and England has been a long and bloody story
Filled with wars, massacres, and oppression and some occasional glory

From Oliver Cromwell’s brutal march 1496 to the 1990’s and The Troubles end
Their history is filled with bitterness and hatred that few thought would ever mend
But five years before the Good Friday Accords, President Mary Robinson paid a call
To Buckingham Palace to see the Queen and carrying an olive branch for all

It was said it couldn’t happen or if it did chaos would ensue
That a reigning monarch visiting Ireland would stir a toxic stew
Tho most of the wounds had healed the scars could still be plainly seen
And a monarch’s visit might tear them open and The Troubles might reconvene

It had been a hundred years since the last visit by an English king
And in the intervening years a violent and bloody struggle did freedom bring
Yet Queen Elizabeth II came to Ireland with dignity, steadfastness and calm
And she said it was her most successful visit and brought some healing balm

The visit was no accident it was more than nine years in the making
The two heads of state planned together and knew the risks they were taking
In 2011 the Queen would land at Dublin’s Roger Casement Airport
Named after one of the martyrs of the Easter Uprising which added some rapport

With calm, poise and dignity the Queen visited some of Ireland’s most revered sites
She laid a wreath at the Garden of Remembrance for those who died in freedom fights
She went to Croke Park stadium the site of a bloody and senseless massacre
By paying tribute to those who died would help make Ireland more secure

She went to the Rock of Cashel which legend has it St. Patrick drove the devil from his cave
And converted the King of Munster saving him from an unholy and fiery grave
She watched the Irish step dancers and was greeted with thunderous applause
And said Bloody Sunday was unjustified and unjustifiable which helped the peace cause

She went to Trinity College to view The Book Of Kells without a hassle
But saved her crowning achievement for the state dinner at Dublin Castle
It was the Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney who wrote “Be advised my passport is green.”
Then he wrote “No glass of ours was raised to toast the Queen”

The poet was among the crowd that night to watch history being made
The Queen opened her remarks in Gaelic, a language the Brits tried to bury with a spade
It was an acknowledgement that the suppression of Gaelic had been wrong
Both Catholicism and Gaelic survived because the Irish are faithful and strong

She raised a glass and acknowledged England and Ireland’s painful past
And said if bitterness and hatred are treated with kindness, the former would not last
It was an act of statesmanship the British Isles hadn’t seen before
To peace and civility that it was hoped would last forever more

It was the most successful visit of her long and memorable reign
It proved that tolerance and forgiveness can trump violence and pain
So on St. Patrick’s Day let us raise a toast to peace and unity
And that violence and terrorism will be banished in perpetuity.

Postscript

The inspiration for this poem came from a section of Tina Brown’s latest book The Palace Papers chronicling the House of Windsor. The excerpt covered the late Queen Elizabeth II’s visit to the Republic of Ireland in 2011 — something that hadn’t been done for 100 years. Most pundits felt it would never happen given the long and bloody history of the two countries, going back to Oliver Cromwell’s brutal march through Ireland in 1649 and more than two decades of The Troubles, which claimed more than 25,000 lives.

Despite fears that her visit might trigger an assassination attempt or reignite the violence, the Queen — with steadfastness, courage and calm — flew to the Emerald Isle and proved that reason and patience can trump fear and violence, and that peace can prevail. She claimed that of all her royal visits, this was the most successful. We hope you agree.

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