Post by Dan on Apr 16, 2020 0:44:12 GMT -6
Rinne me laimhseail orm, ach nior tugadh teagmhail lei riamh. Ni chuala me riamh na focail "Is brea liom tu." Nior roinntear riamh na focail "Is brea liom tu." Cailini de mo aois, cuirt siad, ansin posadh, agus iomproidh siad leanai. Ni raibh mo bhroinn ar bith i bhfad nios giorra, ach ni raibh imreoir amhain i ndiaidh a cheile.
Translated to English...
I have been handled, but never have I been touched. I have never heard the words "I love you." I have never shared the words "I love you." Girls of my age; they court, then marry, and bear children. My womb has been nothing short of a wicket, a wicket bowled by one player after another.
Thus begins Chapter Five, Elly obviously writes this at an older age than we've known her so far. But what she's explaining is reflecting upon her childhood, that being an orphan since birth, she has only known abuse, she has only known hunger, that she has only known pain.
What follows from there is a constant series of isolation, desolation and desperation.
When Elly escaped the abuse of foster care, she fled to Skibbereen, unfortunately to discover corruption, filth and crime. Only a few days in, Elly is attacked and trapped by a pack of young, homeless bullies who proceed to steal the only clothes she owned, the very clothes she had been wearing.
She was then arrested, assumed and accused a child prostitute, as found dirty and naked in the streets of the city. She was then incarcerated in a prison "amongst thieves, drunks, rapists, whores and murderers."
Of the lifetime of the abuse and neglect, at only the age of ten, she cries that "nior mhothaigh se nach raibh me ach leanbh. Mhothaigh se nach raibh me ach cailin og. Mhothaigh se nach raibh iospartach orm. Chun an tsochai, ni raibh me ar bith nios mo na breagach."
Translated to English...
"It mattered not that I was just a child. It mattered not that I was just a young girl. It mattered not that I was actually a victim. To society, I was nothing more than a whore."