EMERALD ISLE (The Soil From Which I Spring)

EMERALD ISLE

The soil from which I spring
Land from whence came the Laughlins, the Gordons, the Dunns
who made it over the Atlantic during the Famine
probably in steerage -
never much cash on Mom’s side of the family

The fields of green they no longer remember
Too far from home for too many generations
But there remains an impish, macabre sense of humor
that makes for stifled laughter in church
coupled with acceptance of the inevitable:
The English rule us
Invaders roll our women over and give us brown-eyed kids

All of this dances in my soul, a reel of real destiny, a pride
My Dad’s side was Mayflower, doncha know, D.R.A.
(Me drinking tea with that many white women? Don’t think so)

I am my mother’s girl
Pigs in the parlor, bathtub gin, poker in the back room
I love the smell of a beer-soaked tavern floor
Shanty Irish til the day I die

(c) 2010 Amy Barlow Liberatore/Sharp Little Pencil