Beer and fags the drugs they had
To compensate a life of drudgery
Smoky rooms and rounds of ale the style
Mills and mines were their employ
Long hours given and there no joy
All your life so how the hell to smile
But smile they did through all that grime
And kept their doorsteps clean
And kept best room for visitors their pride
Scrimped and saved for holidays
Two weeks in Blackpool Southport Rhyl
Buckets and spades and gentle donkey rides
Allotments whippets pigeons too
Libraries and books they knew a few
Then the bookies and the Racing Post
And pubs galore for working men
And clubs for weekend fun and then
Give order now for artiste says your host
I came from this dear culture, me
My dad were down the mine
His dad too Mick Foy he was class
One evening an ‘owd mon’ told me mum
After church in Atherton
I’ve just seen ‘owd’ Mick Foy saying mass!
I liked the ale I must admit
Drank my fair share of it
And me a priest of God at the time
The reason was an emptiness
That beer could not fill
It took a lass and she was in her prime
It’s quite a journey each one makes
Through life’s complexity
A prayer we said Novena time
Has always stayed with me
For all the changes of our journey through life
We asked for Mary’s prayer
Our future still a mystery
It will come to those who dare
Brian Fahy
25 May 2021
Erris Poetry 