THE FAMINE VICTIM They found her dead by the hawthorn hedge, Her wasted form still fair; In silent sorrow her life went out, She died of hunger there. No roof to shelter her dear young head, No ear to list her sighs; No lip, to whisper a parting prayer, For death had closed her eyes. Alone, through the dreary, dismal night, In anguish, pain and fear, No hand to soothe her feverish brow; No solace, help or cheer. Where was her father, her mother, where, She was her parents' pride! Ah, why did she live to see them starve! They too of hunger died But the God of justice saw her woe, And heard her plaintive cry, And took with paternal care her soul, With Him to rest on high. And his hand shall smite, His wrath shall fall His vengeance stern and sure, On the cruel wrong, oppression fell, That rob and slay the poor. They dug her grave near the willow tree, 'Twas soft and peaty soil - Oh, blighting Famine's withering clutch, Was on the hand of Toil! No coffin had she, or "blessed clay," Only a peasant's prayer But that lonely spot is holy ground, A martyr sleepeth there. -- Poet Patrick T. McGovern was born in Gortnaguillon, in the parish of Kiltubrid about three miles from the village of Keshcarrigan, Co. Leitrim on the 24th Oct 1861. He was the son of Thomas McGovern and his wife whose surname was Taylor was from Currycramp parish of Eslin Bridge. The subject of this poem was actually found dead on the farm now in the possession of Edward Taylor of Currycramp in the parish of Mohill, Co. Leitrim. The spot where her body was found is on the western slope of the hill near the blackthorn hedge. She is buried in the brink of the bog not far from where she was found. Such deaths were of almost daily occurrence in the terrible times of 1846-7. The people were so weakened by hunger and the ravages of the famine that there were not enough left to bear the dead to the graveyards, or to provide coffins. Hence, numbers were buried in ditches while the government looked on and did little or nothing to relieve the situation. The sovereign Victoria, extended her sympathy, but sympathy brought no bread. Patrick McGovern immigrated to the USA circa 1880s. While in Ireland he had contributed some poems to newspaper. He was also a member of the Kiltubrid Land League. In America he went first to his sister in Chicago and worked there. While there he married Kathleen McNamara a native of Lisdoonvarna, Co. Clare. They eventually settled in St. Louis, MO, where he had a dry goods store. They had five children and Patrick was a member of Gaelic societies and contributed poems to Irish American papers. He never returned to Ireland. He has several cousins, McGoverns and Taylors, still in Ireland, a nephew, Edward Flynn, who submitted the poem to the "Leitrim Guardian," two nieces live in the USA including Mary McCarthy, Lorain, OH. -- Excerpt, "Leitrim Guardian"