Flight of the Earls  1607

Surrender and regrant and O’Neill,

Got a fair deal at Melifont in 1601.

Then came a crisis  for London and Dublin

When O’Neill jumped ship in 1607 and, left 3m acres

eschewed. A plan was hatched to

Neutralise Ulster with colony and money.

The planners were reluctant to embark on plantation

and make the mistake in Ulster that they did in Munster .

So it was with sheer speed

To accomplish sheer greed.

That second born English noble sons

Would have a go like at Castlecrawford.

Or just the idea for any DIY adventurer,

And those in between who only wanted

To hide their past in the wild.

Machiavelli was consulted and covert units were planted

with such glee and before they knew it,

the Parliament was subverted, and Gaelic

landowners affright with legal terminology sank into debt

only to be bought up by the likes of Lord Cork for his

aggrandisement. Then came tax, tithes and a reformed god,

To suggest that maybe it’s alright to abandon

An Irish birth right of culture and tongue.

Since London had no war to play with: it took Ireland

As a pastime, a blue print, a colony that would be transplanted

Into Virginia .

If plantation was as simple as that in 1607!

©      Mearns Pollock 2007