Ireland's Holy Innocents

A poem which a friend posted on Facebook, I assume from one of the newspapers in Ireland today, since the poet's address was attached at the end.

They say that wise men met the King;
His lies had them beguiled;
They'd hoped to find with Herod's help
A joyful maid with child.

The King dismissed them; then decreed,
“The infant has to die.
This Court states he’s unwanted – 'just
By choice'. Don’t question why!

Pro-Choice now slays him and his kind
In this our Bethlehem.
New legal rights to massacre
Mean none can ‘you’ condemn.

These unborn may be hard to find;
They breathe a hidden life.
And if their mothers give them up -
Conceal the bloodstained knife.

Discard the corpses as you go
As merely soul-less meat
And fit for only dog or crow
Like sweepings from the street.”
---------
Thus Herod sent his knifemen out
To kill the misconceived
And fling them into unmarked graves
Un-prayed for and un-grieved...

Unseen, unheard, unloved, unknown,
Miscalled "mistakes, mis-made" –
Un-dressed, un-blessed, not "laid to rest"
But mindlessly "mis-laid".

And when we name the names of those
Who ruled with bloodstained hand,
Who’ll name the unnamed innocents
They slaughtered through this land?

Daniel Holmes