The Emmigrants Suitcase

By Aoife Gallagher, 2nd year.

Object No. 95 Emigrant's suitcase, 1950s
National Museum of Ireland - Country Life

A cardboard box,

Or so I may be.

A poor suitcase,

But no, look at me.

 

If walls could talk

You hear people say

But a suitcase could

Tell as good a tale.

 

I belonged to a girl

Of nineteen years

She left her home

With very few tears.

 

Off to England

She decided to go.

Times were tough.

Pay was low.

 

She left Ireland

With a light mind,

And full of courage

For a job to find.

 

She packed her suitcase

With all her finds

Knowing that Ireland

Would never leave her mind.

 

She arrived in London.

A job she did find, but

Comfort and happiness

Took its time.

 

She settled eventually.

Happiness she did find,

A husband and four children.

Life was kind.

 

But nothing good

Ever lasts for too long.

And in a flash,

Her husband was gone.

 

She struggled, she did.

But she always wondered when

Would she ever see

The green hills of Ireland again.

 

A cardboard box,

Or so I may be.

A poor suitcase,

But no, look at me.

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