Isolation On An Ireland Poem by Da Ge

In ‘96 I crossed the sea,
To Ireland, a land of hope for me.
I dreamed of new starts, of life anew,
But the world here hardened, cold and true.

They called me 'Brit, ' with venom and spite,
No welcome, no warmth, just endless fight.
Sandwiches spat on, threats in the air,
Hatred around me, too heavy to bear.

In Dublin's warehouses, in a bookie's place,
Whispers and stares, contempt on each face.
The IRA's shadow darkened my days,
Death threats delivered in venomous ways.

'A crank, ' they said, when fear gripped my home,
While paranoia taught me how to be alone.
Each door I knocked, each job I sought,
Met excuses and lies, for being 'what I'm not.'

Teacher by trade, yet twice turned away,
'A late application, ' the lines they'd say.
But I knew the truth, the unspoken rule:
A Brit is unwelcome in their school.

I fled to China, to a warmer embrace,
Where smiles met mine, not judgment's face.
Yet Ireland called back, to the house I built,
But its walls hold silence, its air is guilt.

My in-laws' glances, brief and cold,
Questions asked but stories untold.
Ignored, forgotten, my son and I,
Under a shadow, we sit and sigh.

So we shrank back, grew quiet, unseen,
And they named us 'weird, ' whatever that means.
Each day blurs into the one before,
A prison of solitude behind my door.

My work is remote, my voice confined,
To the hum of screens and a fractured mind.
Outside the gate, the world feels stark,
So I stay in the safety of the dark.

My dogs, my solace, they hear my cries,
Their loyalty steady beneath my skies.
I speak to them, they don't recoil,
While loneliness consumes, my heart it spoils.

For I am Scouse, not the Brit they see,
Yet my passport brands this identity.
And though I long for a place to belong,
This isolation has silenced my song.

Why does solitude pull me near the edge,
Where dark thoughts bloom on a razor's edge?
Because in these shadows, I feel erased,
A ghost in a land where I'm out of place.

Ireland, oh Ireland, I tried to believe,
But your love was a gift I could never receive.
So here I remain, with my dogs, my pain,
A soul seeking shelter from isolation's pain.