SONGS OF BABYLON – POEM 1

BABYLON AND THE LOST BABIES

The ongoing tragedy of lost babies isn’t the preserve of any one society but is

distressingly common. However, this set of three poems is a reflection on what

happened in the Republic of Ireland during part of the 20th Century, as described

in the recent Report into the running of Mother and Baby homes published by

the Irish Government in 2020.

It came to me that the first four letters of Babylon could link the lost babies to the

City of biblical renown. Something else links these babies to Babylon. Both the

babies and Babylon have disappeared almost without trace, yet their memory is

held firm in the minds of historians and archaeologists, together with a rapidly

diminishing number of relatives of the lost. It is reported that many of those who

disappeared were unlamented and unremarked by those who disposed of them.

I’ve imagined listening to these lost souls, people as human as you and I. This

history speaks to us, surely. The Songs of Babylon are a tearful journey of loss

and return.

SONGS OF BABYLON POEM 1

DID MY BABIES GO TO BABYLON?

Where have all those babies gone

Three-quarters ceased to be

Maybe they left for Babylon

Or perhaps they were lost at sea.

Lost babies lacking explanation

Couldn’t see living here shouldn’t be

Perhaps they live in Babylon

For indeed they are lost to me.

Did they leave from the nearest station?

Yet how did all of them flee?

How happy are they in Babylon?

Won’t they ever come home to me?

My darlings, my darlings, it cannot be

I lost you forever in ’43.