JERIAH O'DONNELL QUINN
(1903--1929)
Indentured servant, Poet
Dublin, Ireland and Boston, Massahusetts


IRISH NEEDLE FINGERS

When bent on knees
With brush in soapy hand
And saltwater of broken dreams
Running like Christ's blood stains
Over Master Yates' bony boards,
I glimpse the sun of god
Slanting down like me mam's Irish needle fingers
Through grey slatted shutters of this corporeal cell,
Her DVs, dominus vobiscums,
Warn without end that man can serve only One Master,
And this makes mistake, me fleeing her,
Pass faster.
Two more years a slave and I'll be free.
Then, Mammy, I'll come home again to see you.
I am, I am, I am a child of God,
I chant like novice penitent reciting rosary:
I am, I am already free,
And on a good day, sometimes,
Almost believe it.



Jeriah O. Quinn