Afternoon dozing in my chair
Smell of new mown grass
Fills the air
Smell of earth
Warming in the sun
Takes me back
To childhood and the glen
Smell of turf
Burning on a fire
Better than any drug
Intense desire
For a land
That set my heart aflame
Earth and sky and river
Children playing game
Turf that had settled
In the ground
Slean had lifted
Onto a mound
There to dry
And carted home
Stacked outside
Till its turn came
Onto the fire
Warm the house
Boil the kettle
Cook the food
Settle down
To evening mood
Growth of many
A hundred years
Surrenders to the fiery flame
History warms us
The past on fire
Heats today
Stokes desire
For tomorrow
And all that it can be
Tomorrow now is yesterday
The years have flown
The turf fires died
Boxty but a memory
Playing battleships with Tommy
When we were young
The world was kind
And the smell of turf fire burning
Blew my mind
Brian Fahy
31 May 2021
Erris Poetry 