Time Traveller

I feel sometimes
Trapped in time,
Immovable.
Read the stories of my ancestors,
One pair of shoes between the two of them.
Relive history in my mind,
Bubonic Plague,
Potato Famine.
Trace loss and heartbreak
In my family line.
Am I so different?

Should I be proud to graduate?
The first in my family,
5 years of University.
I look around this humble home;
It collapses like cardboard
Under my scrutiny.
Am I so much better off?

The bar for acceptable poor is raised,
But I might go hungry one day,
Freeze through the night in my own home.
Can I escape my birth?
Fame and fortune are Illusions,
Carrots dangled just out of reach.

I feel the sickness of cold winters
And stretched budgets,
Slowly the plague spreads.
I huddle in a blanket,
Eyes flash,
Reveal visions of the past.

Other cold winters long ago,
Mud-stained clothes.
Labouring everyday,
For little pay.
An old woman, frail.
Breath in a cloud of ice.