We know that you are falling,
we know that you're not safe,
we know that you are calling,
we know that you're displaced.
Liam Neeson, or his equivalent,
being the hero on the screen:
It's us he represents.
We hope the slave is freed,
the persecuted saved,
the danger fleed,
the exploited spared.
Like coffin ships never bore
Irish trips to death or foreign shore.
As if it's not something we know.
Work permits and unofficial go
hand in hand in our past
and even now we ask for more
for our undocumented class.
We commit to judiciously go
hand in hand with the rafts
and now let us show
welcome, welcome in, at last.
My youngest wants to be a magician.
Or a cowgirl. Or the two.
These are the things I listen
to from my girls. Not cries for food
that may never come. And it
is nothing besides dumb luck
that their lives are full of health and fun,
as is the right of every child on earth.
I can say with certainty
that my children will never be
gasping for their last puff
in the back of a locked truck.
Lucky, lucky me:
A total accident of geography.
From the same misadventure
their progeny may not be secured.
If I ever have to seek
basic needs
please see me
please feed me
and then permit me to live in peace.
I won't have fled my territory
to upset your serenity.
I will have fled in terror.
When they read about our days
let it be that history says
that we were all in the one boat,
that we made a way to float,
that the movies were real life,
that Europe was a shining light.
Let it record at every page:
We caught you. You were safe.
(Explanation: I started writing this on the night of 27th August 2015 after I had caught the report of the deaths of a number of people in the container of a lorry abandoned near Vienna. This is only one of the many sad, sad incidents in the waves of people fleeing their own countries to get to Europe. In the report they couldn't be sure how many bodies there were, because of the amount of time they had been decomposing. Twenty was the initial estimate. In the last few days the number has been given as 71 people. This is beyond shocking.
It is purely an accident of geography that we are alive, well and safe while others hand over exorbitant amounts of money to traffickers in efforts, often failed ones, to just be allowed to live. It's disgusting.
I find it offensive when I hear the voices of my privileged peers (and we are privileged just to be living here), saying these people should be kept out. I really hope Europe can help, that we give food, shelter and dignity. I think we have to help. I hope that, someday, those same people will be empowered to tackle the corruption of their native countries.
On the 27th August, after the news report I heard Angela Merkel say a few words. I thought she spoke very well, with genuine compassion. As far as I can tell, Germany already offers a lot of assistance to refugees. I hope we'll be able to say the same about Ireland).
