As It Should Be by Derek Mahon

We hunted the mad bastard
Through bog, moorland, rock, to the starlit west
And gunned him down in a blind yard
Between ten sleeping lorries
And an electricity generator.

Let us hear no idle talk
Of the moon in the Yellow River;
The air blows softer since his departure.

Since his tide-burial during school hours
Our children have known no bad dreams.
Their cries echo lightly along the coast.

This is as it should be.
They will thank us for it when they grow up
To a world with method in it.

Theme(s)

• Vigilante justice
• Violence
• Politics
• Intolerance

Poetic Techniques

• Assonance
• Personification
• Juxtaposition

Rhyme + Structure

• 14 lines
• 4 stanzas
• Free verse

Tone + Mood

• Self-righteousness
• Intolerance
• Heroic

Imagery

• Bleak
• Industrial
• Nature
• Moonlight
• Death
• Violence

Symbolism

• Children symbolise innocence and victims
• Sleeping lorries symbolise police turning a blind eye
• Moon in the Yellow River (allusion) - wanted Ireland or good dead, depends on your perspective