Fichead Bliadhna

Running in the moors
Running in the hills
And then to school at the end of summer
Children,
Five years of age,
Without a word of English in my head
Here is your book,
Here is your pen.
«Study hard», that’s what they told me,
«And you will rise up in the world,
You will get ahead.»
Twenty years for the truth
I had to wait
I had to search
Twenty years of lies
They denied me knowledge of myself.
I learned many things
The English language, the poetry of England
The music of Germany
The history of Spain
And even that was a false history
Then on to further education
Following education, more education
Like idiots on the end of a string
Our heads filled with a sort of learning
Twenty years for the truth
I had to wait
I had to search
Twenty years of lies
They denied me knowledge of myself.
And I did rise in the world
I found my suit, I found my shirt
I found a place in the eyes of men
Well away from the freedom of the moor
But why did they keep our history from us?
I’ll tell you they are frightened
In case the Gaels rise
With searching and penetrating questions.
Twenty years for the truth
I had to wait
I had to search
Twenty years of lies
They denied me knowledge of myself.
When I started searching
I could not believe my eyes,
evil works.
Twenty years and still ignorant