Why?

by Breege Blake

Born in a village
Created by an eviction
At the edge of a bog.
He was a child
Of the late 19th century.

Times were hard
Famine lived in the memory
Of the older generation — Survivors.
People wanted to fight back
Began to agitate.

Yet in 1922
He voted with the Landlord.

Reproduced with kind permission of the author. This poem was composed in Poetry as Commemoration workshops held at the National Museum of Ireland — Country Life on the 8th & 9th of November 2022. The workshops were led by writer Terry McDonagh.