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_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"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_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":2421,"url":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/glam-dicenn-on-daesh\/","url_meta":{"origin":860,"position":2},"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":5232,"url":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/dont-seek-favours-from-the-good-folk-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":860,"position":3},"title":"Don\u2019t Seek Favour’s from the Good Folk","author":"Tom\u00e1s \u00d3 C\u00e1rthaigh","date":"13th December 1923","format":false,"excerpt":"Be aware of the risks of getting a favour from the good folk...","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"According to lore, a ring of mushrooms mark the spot where the faries have danced in the cover of the fog, in Irish folk stories.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/Fairy-Mushroom-ring.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":662,"url":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/was-i-the-first-at-the-pantheon-gaelic-to-speak\/","url_meta":{"origin":860,"position":4},"title":"Was I the First at the Pantheon Gaelic to Speak?","author":"Tom\u00e1s \u00d3 C\u00e1rthaigh","date":"23rd May 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"\"In anim Dhroim\" , out loud I said As the Pantheon I beheld To be seen up close by the eye The skill of the Ancients it spelled. Us wit our modern equipment We have not half the skill Less of the dedication Less still of the will. Was I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Balkan Odyssey"","block_context":{"text":"Balkan Odyssey","link":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/category\/travel-poems\/balkan-odyssey\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"While visiting the Pantheon, I said out loud in Gaelic, \"In anim dhroim\"... in the name of Heaven... and I wondered after I spoke those words, was I the first Gaelic to speak there, and pondered on the great antiquity of both our languages and cultures, the Gaelic and the Greek. ","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Pantheon.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Pantheon.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/Pantheon.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3840,"url":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/dont-seek-favours-from-the-good-folk\/","url_meta":{"origin":860,"position":5},"title":"Don’t Seek Favours from the Good Folk","author":"Tom\u00e1s \u00d3 C\u00e1rthaigh","date":"21st July 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Some folk are brave and more are not To ask the good folk for what they seek Those spirit folk we called the Sidhe Of whom we refuse to directly speak. The taboo still exists in theses modern times Among those who are close to the land Live the air,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Fairies"","block_context":{"text":"Fairies","link":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/category\/ireland\/irish-legend\/fairies\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Keeraun Hill, near Banagher in Co. Offaly, Ireland Photo: Tom\u00e1s \u00d3 C\u00e1rthaigh (c) 2012","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Keeraun-Hill.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Keeraun-Hill.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Keeraun-Hill.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Keeraun-Hill.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_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}]}}