My life during the famine

This is a poem that is told from two points of view about the same situation. It is about the Irish potato famine, and the point of view of the daughter of a landlord and a tenant peasant:

I wake up in the morning and take a hot bath, eat breakfast, and leave for school.
I wake up in the morning and wash my face, eat a piece of bread, and leave for the fields.

I get to school where I hand in my homework.
I get to the field where my father tells me what the work for the day is.

I am taught by official teachers about many subjects.
I am taught by my tiered mother how to plant carrot seeds.

I have a recess where I discuss my latest purchases with my friends.
I wipe the sweat from my forehead, wishing desperately for a break.

I play with my hair ribbons as the teacher speaks.
I play with a rotten potato before tossing it on the gigantic bad crop pile.

I have a big sandwich for lunch and a piece of chocolate cake for dessert.
I get another piece of bread for lunch and a handful of oats for lunch at the fields.

I get home at five and play with my sister and then do some homework.
I get home at seven and tell my sister a story to get her to stop crying because she is hungry.

I eat a fancy dinner with many friends of my parents.
We share a plate of beans and a couple of carrots for dinner at the rackety table.

I read a chapter of my new book and fall asleep in my fluffy bed, with a chimney on.
I stare up at the cracked ceiling and shiver as the cold penetrates my sore body until I fall asleep.

I wake up the next day, and feel happy because it is Saturday and I don’t have school.
I wake up the next day and feel bad because it’s Saturday and now we have to work today too.

I play and read all day, and enjoy the meals with my whole family.
I pull weeds out all day, and try not to think about the muffled noises my stomach makes all day.

I watch happily as my mom cradles her newborn in her arms.
I cry sadly as my mom cradles my little dead brother in her arms.

Life is very good right now.
Life is miserable right now.