Through Sandymount, Irishtown and Ringsend
Old Dublin, Joyce Dublin, Jameson Dublin, James Connlly and Jim Larkin Dublin.
– The working man’s Dublin,
Where they drank Porter instead of Stout,
Pints of plain paid for with a Friday wage packet —
That sinewed world of labour
Stilled in statues and heavy bronze rope
Slung now over the Liffey Quays
These old bricks have seen it all,
Unimpressed by their new occupants and glass neighbours
Wise to it all
In their own way
Home to generations of mothers who built families
On the twig of poverty and the straw of grit
Hardship?
That’s nothing new here.