DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM~ from a survivor of the Irish homes for girls
DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM
"Do you know who I am
Does the drifting winds carry my scent....
Do you know who I am.
I am here by your side."
They say live with your pain..
I had felt it in my heart where it had closed these emotions down......
Then today I heard it again...
"Do you know who I am....
Does the drifting winds carry my scent."
And I walk by the ocean blue...
The sky edging the deep afar.....
I breath deeply and there is a scent....
I once knew......
I hold my chest in pain... and sob so loudly........
Deep inside as I rock back and forth.....
I feel your love...
A warm hand cradling my head......
A love I recognised.......
It was now coming to the surface.
I breath deeply again....
A whisper of tender love I hear...
All my surroundings not even there....
A lightness inside my head; a fear;
Dare I faint right here.....
I slowly walk...
Now fallen upon the sand..
With a tissue I wipe my brow and cheeks......
Theres a powerful stirring inside my heart;
Its alive again!
Right there and then my heart lay open......
And I saw you!
You were there all the time.
Behind that door as a small child I had closed...
So many years I had not looked byond......
Protected by my inner child such love lay safe and sound.
The ocean waves now rolling a vigiours tide
Waves full of white foaming bubbles in sounds and gurgles......
They carried two spirits today.........
A wonderous sight....
So beautiful was such love of
Yours and mine alone.....
I waste no more days...
But I now fight For you my Mammy....
For the Irish Legislation to change it ways....
And to give Irish mammies and their babies justice and peace.
Thank you mammy for being with me....
But I also know that you need to be free......
Free to rest peacefully......
Go now my sweet beautiful Mammy.....
And I will do my best.
Written by maria ann cahill
©2014
~posted in full with permission from the author~
Maria is a fb friend of mine and a tireless advocate on behalf of adoptees and mothers of loss. She had her daughter taken from her from an Irish home for girls, but she is now in reunion. Her daughter also works to have the UN do a proper investigation of the crimes committed in Ireland.
I am thrilled that the movie, Philomena was made. But you know we are all aging, when will the story of American girls/women be made? I want justice, but right now just the telling of our stories~and people actually hearing what we say~will go a long way.
I know we have some screenwriters here. I beg you to read, 'The Girls Who Went Away' by Ann Fessler and see if it doesn't move you to work with her to get our stories out.
= new reply since forum marked as read
Right now the Irish government is fighting to make it a 'sweep under the rug' kind of investigation, but the Irish survivors are fighting tooth and nail for the UN to conduct a proper investigation.
The Australians were the first to receive at least some type of justice, a formal apology from the government. The Irish will be next to receive some type of justice. I am wondering if we will ever get anything resembling justice here in the States for us. 
Before she got pregnant in high school or she would have definitely been in one of the laundries ...
But my mother, here in the States, in 1963 was forced to work without pay as a nanny to an upper middle class family. This was the nun's way to shame her into believing that she could never be as good a mother as the wealthy one. I cannot express how angry I am at how my mother was treated.
I guess the moral of the story is its easier to shame vulnerable American women into handing over their children then women in some other nations.
I'm so happy that your mother escaped the Laundries, but you still have the right to know your brother 
Best wishes to you and your loved ones.