Look

Look at the lone red car flanked by eight taxi plates on Eden Quay,
Look at the people marching on Leinster House,
Look at the men cleaning up the mess of the city,
Look at the queue stretching from Cumberland Street to the queue on Gardiner Street,
Look at Beaumont’s E&A room crowded with people who can’t get a bed,
Look at the rising houses that will never be filled,
Look at the rusting closed shutters lining either side of Abbey Street,
Look at the murky green surface of the River Liffey,
Look at the increasing number of men carrying home the morning shopping,
Look at ‘For Sale’ sign after ‘For Sale’ sign,
Look at the one 2009 license plate on the roads,
Look at regeneration and reformation in all the wrong places,
Look at the overcrowded pubs in Temple Bar,
Look at the youthful innocence spread throughout the clubs,
Look at the news and learn about more job losses in Waterford,
Look at the picketers abuse the scabs,
Look at all the drunken fights and spilled blood,
Look at the screaming woman and the cornered taxi driver,
Look at all the front rooms filled with people at midnight,
Look at the raised fists and hear the calls for change,
Look all around you…

And you can clearly see a country on its knees…