A second splits,before the bullet enters the brain,

Exploding in the mind

Like the shattering of a window

Or a waterfall crashing on rocks

In that split second

He heard his wife putting the peas on to boil

Saw his children arrive home from school

And throw their coats down in the hall

Just as he had told them not to

He smelt the dew-scented roses

Colouring his garden

And the roseship wine

He had bottled last summer

He thought of his mother

Just visiting her neighbour

As she did every afternoon

And of the tapestry his daughter was making

And just before the bullet splintered his skull

And dropped him into the past tense

He thought of his slaughterers

The sun shone down in Belfastthat day

Herding black-bodied flies

Around the sticky blood

Split like milk on the pavement