This is a photograph of the outer fences of “you know where” – Long Kesh/the H Blocks/Her Majesty’s Prison Maze.
Whatever you say, say nothing
When you talk about you-know-what.
For if you-know-who could hear you
You know what you’d get –
They’d take you off to you-know-where
– Colum Sands “Whatever You Say, Say Nothing”
(Makem & Clancy also do a version)
Colum Sands’s song (1981) is pre-dated by Seamus Heaney’s 1975 poem of the same name, from the collection North.
“This morning from a dewy motorway
I saw the new camp for the internees …”
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2005 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Extramural Activity 