The Peace Bridge across the River Foyle in Northern Ireland was funded by the European Union to encourage and symbolize peacemaking in a land riven by religious and political strife. The structure, completed in 2011, has become a major attraction. Following the 2020 vote on UK separation from the EU there has already been discussion about demolishing the Peace Bridge, and violence has broken out again, in April 2021 in the Waterside district of Derry, adjacent to the bridge. Images can be found at: https://www.wilkinsoneyre.com/projects/the-peace-bridge
The white bridge floats improbably
Between old Derry and the Orange suburbs
I’m drawn across by elegance, élan
Perhaps just hope
More ferry than bridge
She probes upstream
Docking gingerly amid deep currents
Taught steel lines soaring, singing
Rebalancing immovable poles
Lines strain to span Foyle’s shores
They clutch, enfold, implore
So slender, they may snap
Should folk bolt to one side or other
A fellow in T-shirt and jeans
Cycles the heaving deck
He’s any older Ulsterman
Taught-faced, vein-handed
I sweep my arm: “What a bridge!”
And, as he dwindles in the evening glare
He snaps back over a shoulder
“Aye, it cost a pretty penny
Peace doesn’t come cheap, does it?”
He’s pleased to cross the river any time
But he pre-paid his cynicism centuries ago
And doesn’t brook naivety
Nor strangers
Gawking
Thank you for providing your insightful notes and the link to the bridge’s photos and history. While I would have appreciated your piece without them, for me, they provided context and additional meaning. Well done!