Read the last stanza of the poem "Afterlife", by the Irish poet Robert Mahon:

But the hills are the same

Grey-blue above Belfast.

Perhaps if l'd stayed behind

And lived it bomb by bomb

I might have grown up at last

And learnt what is meant by home.

Choose the correct alternative.

The lyrical I:

A) thanks God because he was not in Belfast during the war.

B) laments having gone away. Had he stayed in his own country, he would know the meaning of 'home'.

C) had the chance to go away, which means it allowed him to grow up and better appreciate Ireland.

D) is going back to Ireland after having been sent away from England.

E) prefers much more to stay in England rather than go to Ireland.