Pretty Smiles and Pigtails – The Mary Boyle Mystery

Pretty smile and pigtails �" Mary Boyle was just a girl

Watching Gemma O’Doherty’s documentary on the missing child Mary Boyle nearly forty years ago is chilling, with interference at a political level with policing, and a suspect free to prey since on other vunerable young children.

This highlights the fact that abuse of children is most prevailent among the family and immediate circle, not just among the clergy, unlike the impression one would get from the media.

The documentary is at the bottom of the page.

She was just a girl, pretty smile and pigtails
She was just a girl the louder of the twins
She was just a girl of six summers and more to come
She was just a girl of childish giggles and impish grins
For whom the next day was an exciting adventure…

She was just a girl for whom Santy was still real
She was just a girl for whom life was just to play
She was just a girl for whom trust was a given
She was just a girl for whom tomorrow was a new day
But she was to have no tomorrow…

She was just a girl who had been out playing
She was just a girl visiting her grandparents place
She was just a girl living lives as children do
She was just a girl who disappeared without a trace.
All went searching…

She was just a girl for whom all the people were looking
She was just a girl whose sisters life was wrecked
She was just a girl who lost her life, people knew how they thought and talked
She was just a girl who was unimportant unlike the suspect
So said the phonecall to the Guards.

Forty years and counting, forty summers waiting
No fibre, no clothing, no body, only tears
Forty years of interference, influence and indignant
No thought of other victims who keep silent from their fears.
Because most only think the church does that kind of thing.

Dead priests, dead boys, missing women and girls
Our island holds it secrets very well
The wrongdoers are free onto others to fo wrong
As bad are those who know and refuse to tell.
Remember… she was just a girl…

This is Gemma O’Doherty’s documentary:

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Reviews

[Rick Puetter]

Beautiful, Tomás. "She was just a girl"! Yes. Simple, powerful words. Truth be known, we are all so simple. Hairless apes. Naked. Simple. And yet we can aspire to great things. It seems almost contradictory. We have feet of clay and yet can soar with the angels--or so it seems to us--remember we are simple folk and are easily impressed. Still, we are a complex mix. We are a sad people, and yet we can be triumphant. So with all of this, it is so difficult to accept base behavior. It is so disappointing. It leaves you hollow and empty.

Best regards,

Rick

[MomzillaNC]

Brilliant, eloquent, and tragic…

[Red Raven]

Very powerful words but what hit home is the docu film . Thank you for sharing.
I have a baby girl of 5 years old and it gives me heavy heartache when i think about the whole situation.
RedRaven

[Richard McLin]

Powerful. That's the only way I can describe it. Great work.

-Richard

[.]

Very poignant......

You have highlighted a story that otherwise i would not have known about. As heartbreaking as it is, such a case is all too common in this modern era. Children and even adults continue to disappear without a trace and no culprit is ever caught, no body is ever found.

Your poem shines a light on injustice and gives some dearly needed prodding to those in politics and law enforcement to make sure that this little girl is never forgotten. A very deep, emotional poem.

[Ruth]

A really emotive poem and one that brings to light so many unanswered questions, moved me deeply...

[andrew mitchell]

You have depicted many an unsolved mystery on children who have disappeared. I think of Madeleine as the most recent, in aussie the Beaumont children were abducted in 1966 , never solved. a moving poem.

[Coyote Poetry]

Thank you for the poetry and the video. I'm listening now to the video. A powerful poem that left the reader with questions. Thank you for sharing the excellent poetry.
Coyote

[Thomas Fitzgerald]

What a tragic and piece, I'm not familiar with the case, however you portray it well.

[Einstein Noodle]

a terrible thing ..the crimes against children ... especially grievous ...as you point out it is many times the family or close "friend" that is the perpetrator ... i have four children and four grandchildren .. and they are all so very precious to me ..i can not imagine what it is like for parents who are innocent of the crime ... i could not open the documentary but will find it ... so tragic!
i thought your repetition was a bit too much ..i found myself skipping over it after a point ... switching from it in the last two verses is effective but i think if you did that sooner it might be more powerful .. i appreciate how you bring these cases to our attention .. i think it brings value back to those lost so many years ago ..without a trace ... their memories are kept alive ...
E.

[Tomás Ó Cárthaigh]

Its something I might edit out... it was going to be called "Just a Girl" to match another poem of mine called "Just a Boy", but the end of the opening line fitted the picture so well I made it the title... the whole case is opening a lot of other cases in Ireland...

[Einstein Noodle]

in Arkansas we just passed legislature that opened up missing case files to the public .. so everyone can search for updates, pictures and circumstances surrounding missing people ..in hopes that more exposure will bring more resolutions for families and the police ... my family (on my Dad's side came from County Donegal ... so Mary's story cuts a little closer ... so sad and a terrible tragedy no matter where it happens..

[Tomás Ó Cárthaigh]

Indeed. That is a great idea...

[Einstein Noodle]

yes ..it is ...we need to be able to help one another ;)