Saint Paul today takes leave
Of the Ephesians
You will never see my face again
He says
I have toiled amongst you honestly
He tells them
My conscience clear
The road ahead I dread
Ephesians cried
On hearing this sad story
The troubles of this world
Are hard to bear
But never to see his face
Again destroyed them
This life this life
So often so unfair
I thought of people
Long ago in Erris
Who said goodbye
To loved ones
Leaving home
Across the sea
America was calling
The young ones went
The old ones left alone
The night before
The parting
People gathered
To eat and sing
And play a merry tune
Then fall upon their neck
In sorrow wailing
Tomorrow came
A parting all too soon
A Wake they called it
As if for someone dying
Indeed as if for one
Already dead
Dead to sight
And dead
No more embracing
A parting kiss
No more to be said
How easily
We travel in our heyday
We cross the world
In motor, boat and plane
But perhaps our speed
Has blurred our sense of looking
Will I ever see your lovely face again?
Brian Fahy
18 May 2021
* People left in great numbers from Doolough, my grandmother’s village, to seek their fortune in America. They could never return home, and the farewell gathering was known as an ‘American Wake.’
Erris Poetry 