Remembering My Great-Great Grandfather Poem by Raymond Farrell

Coming as you did because you had no choice
Starvation and hatred forced you into exile
They shoved you onto a ship like cattle
Irish-speaking, disenfranchised, without a voice
Forced to live apart for no reason
Save the fact that you were an Irish Catholic
Deemed unfit to live near the Protestant Orange elite
A mere unworthy, ungodly Dogan
How dare you not be enamored with British Justice
And its "just us" policy of segregation
That relegated you to Pontiac County's stony ground
Up the Ottawa River in West Quebec
But somehow you managed to survive
Bridget came later and though
The last three children died on the way
The two of you picked up the pieces
Without a look back, moved forward toward a better day
I feel no shame to be descended from you
An illiterate Irish peasant forced into exile
Because you did what you could
With what you had
And for that I am eternally glad.