Michael Hartnett: She was a language seldom spoken

She was a summer dance at the crossroads.
She was a card game where a nose was broken.
She was a song that nobody sings.
She was a house ransacked by soldiers.
She was a language seldom spoken.
She was a child's purse, full of useless things.

      --Michael Hartnett (1941-1999), "Death of an Irishwoman," in Staying Alive: Real Poems for Unreal Times, ed. Neil Astley