When the Pool Stilled

When the Pool Stilled

(Written on watching the last remembrance ceremony at Anfield and remembering the Ninety-six who did not come home.)

When the pool stilled and the waters touched our eyes We remembered all those loves who died. When the doves rose and the bells rang through the air Through salt waters that were our tears.

Years of agony, all those years of lies! We cannot let them rest, those cherished lives; For their innocence, all we sought was truth,
For the loves we lost, our red flowers of youth.

Chorus People cried for justice, hearts are broken still — How could they not feel the weight of that shame: The poison they have peddled, the lies they peddle still The innocence they stole, and in whose name? And we will remember, they are not alone The Ninety-six who did not come home. We will remember, remember still Those names we bless when the red pool stills.

And those ninety-six, who did not come home, Through the storms of pain, they’ll not walk alone. In our shirts of red, we will make this mark Standing here with them, they won’t fear the dark.

In the silence there, on the Kop, the hill, We will remember them, as the red pool fills By the Mersey’s tide, we will say their names, Who went to win, but lost, at a tragic game.

For we have cried for justice, our hearts are broken still — How could they not feel the weight of that shame: The poison they have peddled, the lies they peddle still The innocence they stole, and in whose name? And we will remember, they are not alone, The ninety-six who did not come home. We will remember, remember still Those names we bless when the red pool stills.

— © Frank Callery, Friday, April 22nd. 2016.