By Rosalie Kuzma

~

The English conquered and ravaged

Enslaved us in our land

Penal laws and deportation

We bore the English brand

.

The Famine of the forties

A English "Gentlemans Genocide"

Four million to emmigration

And of fever and hunger did die

.

Migration from Ireland's shore were many

Some of us to the coal fields of Pennsylvania came

to seek a life free of English oppression

A better future for our children to gain

.

But the supression it started all over

New faces, differant towns-but still the same!

We found naught in this land cross the ocean

Our hearts were laid open to sorrow and pain.

.

They say the coal barons of the railroads

With their Kow-towing "Yes" men astride

Created the monster called "Mollie"

They kept it alive with their lies.

.

Did they fear a union in the making

Should the Irish a voting majority be?

Slave labor rising up, changing conditions

Did they say, "No, to this we'll never agree!"

.

Did they make the Irish the scapegoat

Using human life for their personal gain?

Handing down to the annals of history

Their legacy of dishonor and shame

.

Sure our trials were slanted and biased

Justice blinded by prejudice lies and hate

Tried and found guilty of murder

The gallows our infamous fate

.

Oh, we Irish came to this land seeking freedom

We walked through that golden door, full of hope

We came to glorify in the sunshine

Not to dance at the end of a rope!

.

(All rights reserved. This poem may not be reproduced or performed without written permission of the author.)