She was on her way to Bangor
For the Bingo
And we were coming in from Ballycroy
A road across the blanket bog
By jingo
So desolate so lonely there, no joy
She knew she’d get a lift
There’d be no problem
The folk around know one another well
A car would come and stop
And she’d be welcome
We were the ones that came
As I now tell
The folk in Erris live
By one another
A stranger is a person that you greet
You wouldn’t pass them by without
Hello there
We need to keep civility
When we meet
I remember a young lad
I gave a lift to
He had been up in the midlands
Now for home
They are strange up there, he told me
When I met him
They walk past you they don’t greet you
In Athlone
Wait till he gets to Dublin
I was thinking
But really we’re no different
Where we are
It’s conditions that we suffer,
Which now form us
If we get a chance we’d join you
For a jar
But the lady on the road
I will remember
A wilderness so bleak
You won’t believe
Yet her trust in human nature
Was so simple
A car would come
And she would be received
I greet the folk I meet now
Every morning
I look into their eyes
And say hello
It’s the least that we can do
To tell another
We acknowledge them
I’m me and
You are you
Brian Fahy
13 May 2021
Erris Poetry 