Galway: Last journey

This is the Place of Betrayal.

Roll back the stones behind madonna blue walls.
Make visible the tree.
Above percussion of engines
from gloom of catacombs,
through a glaze of prayer,
stumble of chanting,
make visible the tree,
its branches ragged
with washed-out linens
of a bleached out shroud.
In this shattered landscape,
sharpened tongues
of sulphur-yellow bulldozers
slice through wombs
of blood-soaked generations.
This is the place where Veronica,
forsaken,stares and stares
at a blank towel.

Patricia Burke Brogan