We had to leave the Hunger
said my Da. We walked
the half of Ireland
trying not to see
what it was we saw. Ditches
filled with bodies
crows and dogs. Potato
patches gone to slime.

We found a ship.
The Hunger came aboard.
The Fever lay in wait
hidden in the holds.
We slept on straw
Ate oatmeal twice a day.

My little brother died
they thew him overboard.
Then I got sick. Clouds covered
all the stars. I saw my Da
no more. We came to land.

They put me in the Quarantine,
My cousin next to me. No one
else we know. The nurse is kind
You’re just a stick, she said. They came
last night and pulled a blanket
over cousin’s eyes and took her out.
I said good bye and slept
and woke in fever dreams.
When you get better you can go
she said. Your Ma is waiting for you
just outside the walls.
*
In all the foolishness and sometimes bacchanalic celebration of St. Patrick’s Day it is good to take a moment to remember the incredible hardship and sacrifice of so many who came to the U.S. from Irish shores, especially in the famine years of the late 1850s.

As a descendant of Murphys, Sullivans, Hogans, McCarthys, McCarvilles, Aherns, Ralleys, Lyons I’ve long had a visceral link to the history of those who got me here. Earlier this year my brother, Larry Kirkland, a widely known and admired public artist, was in the final four of a competition for a memorial to the dead at the Staten Island Quarantine Station — the predecessor of Ellis Island. His concept was a series of marble monuments with draped figures resting on top and text engraved on the sides, entering into and conveying their hopes, dreams, sorrows and lives. I worked with him to provide the text.

We weren’t chosen, as perhaps too somber for what the city fathers had in mind — a pleasant tourist destination. But we are proud of what we tried to do. The text above is one of about 10 I did. The others are  available on my own blog www.allinoneboat.org .

By the way, Thomas Cahill, author of How the Irish Saved Civilization, [well worth reading] has a very nice opinion piece in the NY Times today. Read a book!