For Those Lives Blighted

Once, in Ireland one million died

and we’re still counting.

One million fled 

for their lives

and we’re still counting.

Equivalent to the population

of Gaza

before

the avalanche 

of violence

spread so thickly

it destroyed all

in its paths.

And its paths were everywhere,

rubble strewn deep as an Irish bog.

And before

the aftermath

when starvation ruled the land.

Starvation had ruled the land in Ireland

when the potato crop was blighted.

Without potatoes there was no food.

Without potatoes there was no money for food.

Without money for rent colonial landlords evicted,

and slave labour of starving men women and children 

followed the rule of law

through occupation

and colonisation.

And no help came.

No Aid came

to help them.

And still

potatoes were exported.

And still

the landlords did well.

All the colonialists did well.

They always do.

So Ireland knows how it feels

in the depth of its turf,

in the depth of its being,

its rock, its stones, 

its body filled bogs, 

its bleached bones

it knows the story

knows that 

change comes

only 

with survival 

survival first

then to change

one step at a time.

And sometimes 

words and money 

can effect change

as readily as weapons,

that time the past shows 

it’s the time to make a stand

against more political the manoeuvring

to undermine another respected decision 

un-welcomed again by the most powerful.

And history shows its time.

For Ireland knows

how lives are blighted.

https://dissidentvoice.org/2024/02/for-those-lives-blighted/