_Where I'm From_

I Am From

I am from Delia Bridget, 

Clare, and Helen.

 

I am from County Clare, 

the West of Ireland

the poorest of the poor.

I am from the Lewis clan: 

clam diggers and oyster shuckers.

The pounding  of the waves against

the Cliffs of Moher, and the tides

of Manhasset Bay inhabit me.

An Us and a Them:

the Irish Catholic school girl

and the lass of Protestant stock.

Born with famine memory,

always hungry...

Seeking sustenance... truth.

Born to a Camelot childhood

until the king died too soon.

I am Francie Nolan and Anne Shirley.

I have been to Manderly and watched

the manor burn.

I have jigged, waltzed, and twisted.

I've listened to Enya...

longed to be a wild child.

I cross fibers into cables,

seed stitches.

And hear old Irish women recite

decades of the rosary

in the wee hours of the morning.

But remain outside the circle.

I have Irish granddaughters

to carry the genes.

May God help them!

I bequeath them the patterns,

and the stories, and

pray for them that their lives

become fine fabric

woven on a sturdy loom.