I love it too. It is a rouser alright and I can hardly listen to it without shedding a tear.
This song tells the story of Michael, a young father who during the great famine in Ireland, was sent on a prison ship to Botany Bay and all for stealing food so that his children could "see the morn". It shares the anguish, the injustice and the loneliness of the young mother left behind in "their" place.
How many of us have stories like this to tell in our own families? My gt gt grandmother experienced the prison ship too. She was sent to the convict community of Tasmania from Bath, for stealing a frypan and a pair of boots. She was 16. She never saw her family again and made her way on her own. A hard life. Her parents subsequently had another child and gave this child her name in an effort to make the links.
How many people there must be who have felt the loneliness of the "Fields of Athenrye" and in so many ways...
Thanks for sharing this Trish. Isn't it great how we can gather our own special thoughts and connections, links and ideas into one place like this. 8^>
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ReplyDeleteI love it too. It is a rouser alright and I can hardly listen to it without shedding a tear.
ReplyDeleteThis song tells the story of Michael, a young father who during the great famine in Ireland, was sent on a prison ship to Botany Bay and all for stealing food so that his children could "see the morn". It shares the anguish, the injustice and the loneliness of the young mother left behind in "their" place.
How many of us have stories like this to tell in our own families? My gt gt grandmother experienced the prison ship too. She was sent to the convict community of Tasmania from Bath, for stealing a frypan and a pair of boots. She was 16. She never saw her family again and made her way on her own. A hard life. Her parents subsequently had another child and gave this child her name in an effort to make the links.
How many people there must be who have felt the loneliness of the "Fields of Athenrye" and in so many ways...
Thanks for sharing this Trish. Isn't it great how we can gather our own special thoughts and connections, links and ideas into one place like this. 8^>