Ireland was green till Ballina
And green to Crossmolina I suppose
The road of rhododendron I remember
As our stagecoach headed west
God only knows
For then we came in contact
With the moorland
The blanket bog that stretches to the sea
And like a lonely ship crossing an ocean
We looked on land as bleak as bleak could be
Like frontier folk in search of California
We headed west towards a retreating sun
That blazed out there before us as we motored
My my, it seemed to say
How far you’ve come!
And spying the Owenmore
Our heart was lifted
Follow this and you shall be okay
The winding river sneaking through the hillside
Will bring us safely in by Bangor way
Emerging from a high secluded gulley
And passing out a quarry on the right
We came in sight of Bangor
The place of our set down
And Uncle Hugh a picture of delight
My mother came from this benighted country
So far away from England’s busy shore
But her heart was here in Erris
It never left the glen
We are coming back in dreams for evermore
Brian Fahy
9 May 2021caca
Erris Poetry 