Hunger

 Hunger

 

Listening to the wind

Listening to the singing bell

Remembering the hunger.

 

The DNA of hunger

the famine child’s hunger

empty belly, starving.

 

Schooled in the litany 

of the Irish troubles

 

Immigrant child

misplaced in the noisy city

longing for Ireland

the mists of County Clare

waves pounding Moher.

 

Reliving the stench

of the potatoes rotting 

in the ground.

 

Remembering the poor souls

who

broke rocks to build roads

going no where

for a slice of bread,

only to die

by the side of the road.

 

Now the Irish American children

live in fine houses 

nourished by soda bread

platters of ham and potatoes

never hungry,

 

without fear 

of having the cottage battered 

or being sent to the poor house,

 

 in a society

where young people 

starve themselves

to death. 

 

A different famine

on this side 

of the Atlantic

 

the wind blows

the singing bowl rings

the hunger abides.