Memories

by Leanne Vaughan

My memory tastes like drinking a coffee on a cold winter’s morning.

My memory smells like the freshly baked apple tart 

straight out of my grandmother’s oven.

My memory sounds like the songs my family sung 

whilst we dressed our tree in December.

My memory looks like butterflies gathering around the pink rosebush in May.

My memory feels like the warmth of a hug from someone near and dear

Whilst buildings fall around me 

War tearing up my place.

Only seventeen years of memories 

Only seventeen years of love.

Written by Leanne Vaughan, as part of Poetry as Commemoration workshops led by Terry McDonagh, in Castlerea Community School, Roscommon, in  November 2022. Transition Year students were invited to write a poem in response to Terry McDonagh’s poem ‘My Freedom One Hundred Years Later’, written in commemoration of the War of Independence.