In Erris the people know each other well
And the proof of this to you I now will tell
Each day when I’ve had breakfast
My computer goes on next
I visit names that know their own death knell
Obituaries are what I like to read
To read of people and the lives they lead
And finding Mid West Radio
And reading names from long ago
Their obituary list became a daily need
It’s the place names that fascinate me so
Those Irish names I know in old Mayo
And when a person dies
It seems the townland cries
Their names are written out there down below
For some a few remembrances appear
To show compassion now for someone dear
But when someone dies in Erris
The list of mourners there is
The longest that you’ll find now anywhere
The family names the names of local places
Were sounds I heard just like familiar faces
Pullathomas and Shragraddy
Muinguinaun and Shrahanarry
Are magical to me in all their traces
Bellacorick and Muingmore
And Geesala by the shore
Doolough the place my grandmother came from
Bunnahowen up the road
Attawalla so I’m told
Was a townland before ever Bingham came
Glenamoy and Bellanaboy
Porturlin Portacloy
Carrowmore and Inver by the sea
Knocknalina Knocknalower
Glenturk Glencullen Lower
Are places that mean everything to me
I heard my mother talk of them
With her sisters having tea
The names were so exotic as you see
It’s true I lived in Lancashire
With Bolton up the road
But it was Bangor that seemed so near to me
I went back there most summers
And drove around the scene
And Erris became fixed in all my dreams
From Blacksod on the western tip
To Belderrig in the north
I’ve travelled by its rivers and its streams
Gortmelia and Gortmore
Gladree do you want some more
Gortbrack and Goolamore I can fit in
Inishbiggle Inishglora
Lenadurtaun Largan More
And Muingnabo to miss would be a sin
But I have to finish now
Drumanaffrin take a bow
And Ederglen beside our lovely lake
And Derreens to the east of us
And Fauleens to the west
These townlands say it all – the West’s awake
Brian Fahy
4 May 2021
Erris Poetry 