O Sacred Heart
I played football for the Sacred Heart of Jesus
Red and yellow jerseys what we wore
School blazers red with yellow embroidery
Colours of the warmth and love it bore
My school and church in Hindsford Lancashire
Were dedicated to the Heart by name
And the church in Bangor Erris when I went there
Beside the Owenmore is just the same
And everywhere you go in Irish houses
You see the picture pinned upon the wall
And yellow votive lights of flickering flame
Remind you of the love God has for all
Our faith those days was full of warm emotion
Benediction and candles burning bright
And music and heartfelt true devotion
Litanies that went on into night
Religion lost its feeling for our feelings
Turned into something cerebral overnight
As Latin turned to English and priests all turned around
The mystery was a bland and boring sight
Too wordy is the general opinion
Too noisy and too heavy on the head
The silence was abandoned replaced by constant talk
We gained and yet we lost it must be said
I remember the Polish mass in Clapham
The congregation sang such lullabies
The singing stole my heart away – didn’t know a word
But felt the love of God in every sigh
My brother in South Uist went to mass
And Gallic music filled the very air
And transported him to heaven with its power
He often thinks about when he was there
Silence is the atmosphere we cherish
And music is the language and the art
And then the word of power can be spoken
To liven and enrich the human heart
Brian Fahy
6 May 2021
Erris Poetry 