Daddy was sitting in his chair
The telly on the girls were there
When suddenly appears upon the screen
A gentleman with quiffy hair
Leather gear a sexy stare
And daddy thinks this is a man I’ve seen
He asks the girls with quizzical voice
If he has made the accurate choice
Is that Elvis Presley that I see?
The girls can only laugh at him
So out of date so Vera Lynn
Elvis is dead so him it cannot be
They put him right and tell him true
That’s John Travolta in front of you
A Fifties’ rock and roller then in Grease
So you weren’t really far off course
Your guess not bad could have been worse
And truth to tell well wonders never cease
But Daddy didn’t hear them right
And what they said came out that night
As Gone to Malta in his deaf old ears
Gone to Malta said my dad
John Travolta the girls roared back
He wasn’t far off – enough for laughing tears
But now I come to his defence
My own deaf lugs are evidence
That I am just like him my father’s son
For John and gone are very close
And Volta Malta makes the most
Of rhyming noise when all is said and done
So in our family we say
When hearing things goes aft agley
I think you’ve got a touch of John Travolta
And we remember our old dad
And that quizzical look he had
The day he thought that we said Gone to Malta
Brian Fahy
8 April 2021
Erris Poetry 