Sarah Clancy - Cherising for Beginners - #Stand4Truth
Channel: Workers Solidarity Movement
Date: 27/08/2018

Sarah Clancy performs her poem 'Cherising for Beginners' at the Stand for Truth rally on the day of the Papal rally in the Phoenix park

Cherish the meek 
cherish the ranchers 
cherish the guards
cherish the bankers
cherish the virgins 
then ride them and cherish their sisters,
cherish tax exiles and entrepreneurs
cherish the rewards of intergenerational privilege 
or if that's too hard for beginners 
sure cherish the Rose of Tralee for starters, 
cherish the goal and the point and the foul
cherish the priest's dirty sheets 
but not the women who wash them, 
don't mention her 
or what she might need, 
go on though and cherish the IFSC 
and its type of laundries-
those ones are fine, 
they are grand sure. 
Cherish Them.
Cherish the pope and his 
band of transglobal bootlickers
cherish the bishops 
who moved paedophile priests
around like chess pieces
and were afflicted with severe mental reservations 
every time child rape was mentioned
cherish the bureaucrats 
who know that the institution always comes first
cherish the shame they implanted 
on the whole population 
then cherish the suicides
as collateral damage 
in an otherwise virtuous struggle
cherish the high moral ground
they reached by tramping on 
the graves of dead babies, 
cherish the ring kissers
who made it all possible
sure give them a big round of applause
don't the y deserve it
Cherish the men 
because they couldn’t help it
if the women and girls went and fell pregnant, 
cherish the foetus, the heartbeat, 
but not the person it's in
then cherish the small graves 
in their undisclosed wastelands 
cherish the shovels 
and boot soles that dug them- 
let there be no doubt about it- 
Yes We Can! 
cherish the children
if they're from the right class
aren’t travelling people 
and are not for god’s sake 
seeking asylum,
don't forget too that we must 
cherish the mute
and cherish the sheepish
but hate those in need,
worship Fr Peter McVerry himself,
go ahead make him an icon
but don’t listen to what he’s saying 
about anything.
Cherish the poor 
for how you can use them 
to frighten those 
who are just one rung above 
cherish the people 
who learned early and often 
what happens to those 
with big mouths, 
cherish your local TDs, 
and the crowd in Listowel 
who didn't care that he raped her 
sure wasn't he one of their own? 
Yea cherish the rapist, 
why don't you?
Cherish the golf course 
and its sprinklers
sure Irish Water will save us
cherish piece work and internships, 
and zero hour contracts 
aren't you lucky you have a job at all?
Do you not remember the coffin ships 
and are you not grateful? 
Yea cherish your own exploitation
cherish the school board,
for our lack of gay teachers, 
cherish women's place in the home
then cut their allowances, 
sure they don’t deserve them
having all of those children 
repeat after me- Cherish Privatisation;
and if you don't then you better learn 
to cherish the knock on your door
in Jobstown in the morning.
Consider this a warning.
Cherish Dev and Pearse 
and blood sacrifice 
but don't mention James Connolly 
who said until Ireland's women are free 
none of us will be, most of all though 
cherish outsourcing and remember 
your call is important, 
you too will be cherished equally
if you can afford it 
as soon as an operator 
becomes available
which may well take 
another hundred years.