Poor Scholar of Today
What to me is Gael and Gall?
– “Poor Scholar of the Forties”, Padraic Columb
Little Greek or Latin is taught now
Scholars of former days wonder how
Knowledge of such language aside is tossed:
Yet same as once horse pulled the plough
– Its self once pulled by ox or cow –
It still exists, though to most, is lost.
People of modern Ireland deride
Young Irelanders ilk for their patriotic pride:
We are all Europeans today!
Ruse designed for the gullible by fools
– As if fighting would stop because of outsiders rules –
We are told we must obey.
Ah, knowledge: of language and tribe;
The lost calligraphy of the scribe…
Cast by typeset from the page!
It shall be rued, maybe learned again
After blood is shed, not ink, by men…
When Ireland, for Europe’s battles again is a stage!