LITTLE GREEN MEN: THE IRISH EMIGRANTS IN AMERICA
by Grainne Archer;

As green-eyed little monsters
in hordes we set to sea,
abandoning our Emerald Isle
for your Land of the Free.

And so as naïve navies
allegiance we all swore
to patinated Libertas
who lit our way ashore.

But bile soon drove us onwards as we
heaved those heavy railtracks, as we
sweated, picked and shovelled, as we
earned our dirty greenbacks.
For freckled-faced simplicity
brought ridicule and laughter,
a century or more of sneers
for every Irish grafter.

But now no longer aliens
our patience fruit has borne
there runs a green blood in your veins -
you’re all part leprechaun!