Once upon a time, and the back of a hedge…
\nOr in a country cottage in Ballinalee
\nOr a tap on the door marked the itinerant teachers arrival
\nTo eager simple folk with a passion for Gaelic and Greek
\nIn days when education was taboo for Catholics…<\/p>\n
That was then… this was now…<\/p>\n
Today, at the back of the hedge, children smoke, have sex
\nSkipping school in some Irish town
\nItenerants today are not teachers, its an insult
\nTo an educated folk who deride Gaelic, know no Greek
\nIn a day when its uncool to be educated or Catholic.<\/p>\n
But in another land…<\/p>\n
A girl went to school, as many girls do
\nBut in her land, education for girls is taboo
\nIrish girls return home asked “What did you learn today?”
\nHer parents got the news she was shot in the head.<\/p>\n
But she survived.<\/p>\n
A lone girl, who teaches the world, as the hedge school masters did in Ballinalee all those years ago, who risked all, to pass on knowledge to folk for whom education was forbidden.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Once upon a time, and the back of a hedge… Or in a country cottage in Ballinalee Or a tap on the door marked the itinerant teachers arrival To eager simple folk with a passion for Gaelic and Greek In days when education was taboo for Catholics… That was then… …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[102,120,56],"tags":[2350,993,994],"class_list":["post-860","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-islam","category-non-rhyming-poems","category-racism-in-ireland","tag-islam","tag-malala","tag-malala-yousafai","column","twocol"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7EI4f-dS","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":747,"url":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/what-we-have-we-do-not-value-as-others-value-what-they-cannot-have-malala-yousafai-tribute\/","url_meta":{"origin":860,"position":0},"title":"What We Have, We Do Not Value, As Others Value What They Cannot Have – Malala Yousafai Tribute","author":"Tom\u00e1s \u00d3 C\u00e1rthaigh","date":"13th November 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"The scene is familiar, girls smoking, swearing, counting down the minutes to when they can race from class and get on with what they believe to be the real world, caring little for the lessons they can learn in school, taking for granted the education that they distain. St. Trinians\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Islam"","block_context":{"text":"Islam","link":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/category\/islam\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"\u00e2\u20ac\u0153What We Have, We Do Not Value, As Others Value What They Cannot Have\u00e2\u20ac\uf19d","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/What-We-Have-We-Do-Not-Value-As-Others-Value-What-They-Cannot-Have.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/What-We-Have-We-Do-Not-Value-As-Others-Value-What-They-Cannot-Have.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/What-We-Have-We-Do-Not-Value-As-Others-Value-What-They-Cannot-Have.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1289,"url":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/what-we-have-we-do-not-value-as-others-value-what-they-cannot-have-malala-yousafai-tribute-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":860,"position":1},"title":"What We Have, We Do Not Value, As Others Value What They Cannot Have – Malala Yousafai Tribute","author":"Tom\u00e1s \u00d3 C\u00e1rthaigh","date":"13th November 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"The scene is familiar, girls smoking, swearing, counting down the minutes to when they can race from class and get on with what they believe to be the real world, caring little for the lessons they can learn in school, taking for granted the education that they distain. St. Trinians\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Afghanistan"","block_context":{"text":"Afghanistan","link":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/category\/war-on-terror\/afghanistan\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"\u00e2\u20ac\u0153What We Have, We Do Not Value, As Others Value What They Cannot Have\u00e2\u20ac\uf19d","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/What-We-Have-We-Do-Not-Value-As-Others-Value-What-They-Cannot-Have.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/What-We-Have-We-Do-Not-Value-As-Others-Value-What-They-Cannot-Have.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/What-We-Have-We-Do-Not-Value-As-Others-Value-What-They-Cannot-Have.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":180,"url":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/real-activists-real-risks-morocco-and-100tpc\/","url_meta":{"origin":860,"position":2},"title":"Real Activists – Real Risks – Morocco and 100TPC","author":"Tom\u00e1s \u00d3 C\u00e1rthaigh","date":"9th June 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Listening today to 100TPC radio, an interview of El Habib Louai, with Terri Carron and Michael Rothenberg, where he speaks of the Islamist government in Morocco, and the difficulties of protest, and even organising poetry readings such as 100 Thousand Poets for Change, brings home to me the freedoms we\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/category\/blog\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Rossnowlagh parade, with Gada escort","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Orange-Order-Marches-at-Rossnowlagh.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Orange-Order-Marches-at-Rossnowlagh.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Orange-Order-Marches-at-Rossnowlagh.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Orange-Order-Marches-at-Rossnowlagh.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5121,"url":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/wedding-day-for-a-pashtun-girl\/","url_meta":{"origin":860,"position":3},"title":"Wedding Day for a Pashtun Girl","author":"Tom\u00e1s \u00d3 C\u00e1rthaigh","date":"10th November 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"In learning to live she nearly lost her life Taught to world to love to learn Which is ignorant of a global reality Where girls who for education yearn, Are forced from school not by resources But at gunpoint, flee from fear! Yet in the west education is derided... Thanks\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Love Poems"","block_context":{"text":"Love Poems","link":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/category\/love-poems\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/media.vogue.co.uk\/photos\/618ab3a9df6a2311f5833bb6\/2%3A3\/w_1920%2Cc_limit\/255301018_1038994880005968_4947243613314941836_n.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2421,"url":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/glam-dicenn-on-daesh\/","url_meta":{"origin":860,"position":4},"title":"Glam Dicenn on Daesh","author":"Tom\u00e1s \u00d3 C\u00e1rthaigh","date":"17th November 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"May the strength that they seek elude them As they are blind to the faith they profess The glory sought be thwarted: their names forgotten Those who seek to be great, may they be less. May they be known for what they are: but mere cowards Slaves to their nafs\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Satire"","block_context":{"text":"Satire","link":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/category\/satire\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":676,"url":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/the-dreams-of-de-valera\/","url_meta":{"origin":860,"position":5},"title":"The Dreams of De Valera","author":"Tom\u00e1s \u00d3 C\u00e1rthaigh","date":"23rd September 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"It is empty, the road, now There is no music, or sport. The young girls, beautiful, At dance, they are not. The boys, big, are not playing Football and hurling during the day, And they are not singing the songs. There\u2019s no-one that hears it. The old people are not\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Current Affairs in Ireland"","block_context":{"text":"Current Affairs in Ireland","link":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/category\/ireland\/current-affairs-in-ireland\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/860","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=860"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/860\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":861,"href":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/860\/revisions\/861"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}