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Ireland - a Divided Island Part Two

chieftains trade their loyalty behind the clouds
  high mountain king Carrantouhil commanding his Macgillycuddy Reeks
  men of begotten rank, scheming skulduggery
  secrets hide out of sight, Comeragh mystery shrouds Coumshingaun
  flighty earls flee from the Lough Swilly shore
  priests conspire, a king, a queen, a lord-protectorate exact revenge
  imported evil stalks the land and soul of Ireland
  near-on half give way, massacre, starvation, transportation and slavery

  annexation by stealth, abomination
  exposed Shannon artery, remorseless draining through lakes of tears
  solidified karst corpses dissolving
  into central mireland, ringed by coastal ramparts and remnant towers
  turloughs disappear where the ground is leaking
  playboys drink from black frothy pools of humour where the craic is good
  where sad refrain gives way to rhythmic distraction
  where song, stories, poetry, plays and dance merge in murky island brews

  native chiefs are stripped of their Ulster lands
  to control, anglicise and civilise a rebellious region
  the area most resistant to English rule
  official and private plantation, top to bottom colonisation
  Gaelic hands across the channel disrupted
  Scottish and English incomers, presbyterian and church of England
  town and country, protestant domination
  Irishmen uniting for briefest moments on higher ground 

  descent into cold depths of history
  the Cliffs of Moher plunging from The Burren's bald barren bleakness
  disfigured fingers pointing blame, shame and guilt
  like the peninsular lands, Beara to Iveragh, Mizen to Dingle
  stretching out to a new land of migrating hope
  escaping abuse and clutches of long-robed men and women
  the stifling heavy hand of implanted culture
  two main layers of tradition now overlaying an unfathomable past

Copyright © Ian Love | Year Posted 2018

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