Johnny Come Lately
The incomer
Is the hated one
The native here by right
That’s how we feel
That’s how we say it is
The native now aggressor
Feeling himself aggressed
Takes up the cudgels
This land is his
The native poor of Glasgow
Found themselves awash
As famine Irish
Landed in their town
Bad enough the poverty
Bad enough the time
A foreign Johnny
Trying to settle down
No Blacks no Irish
No dogs are welcome here
The sign hung up
On many an English door
Our hands are full
With what we’ve got
We’re full up as it is
Not a hope of taking any more
I am a child of immigrants
Irish diaspora
The poverty of Ireland
At the time
My mother domestic service
My father down the mine
My own life so easy
Feels a crime
There are no easy answers
For people on the move
Disturbing status quo
At every call
But Gandhi has a word for us
When he found the pavement blocked
I think you’ll find he said
There’s room for all
Brian Fahy
19 May 2021
Erris Poetry 