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
starvation ruled the land.

​Starvation 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,
slave labour of starving men women and children
followed the rule
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 bones
it knows the story
and that change will come
with survival first
one step at a time
and sometimes
words and money
can effect change
as readily as weapons,
that time the past shows
is the time to make a stand
against political manoeuvring
against another respected decision
un-welcomed again by the most powerful.

History shows the time to make a stand.
For Ireland knows
how lives are blighted.

https://www.poetryxhunger.com/international-poets/poems-by-lynn-white