The journey westward every year
Steam train to Holyhead
Travelling in the black of night
Where will be my bed?
Up the gangway to the ship
Down to cabins tight
Sleep away the dreamy hours
Wake to a lovely sight
Dun Laoghaire harbour welcoming
Irish breakfast too
Train to Westland Row in time
The Westport train is due
Long day’s travel through the fields
Finally we land
At famed Manulla Junction
Change for mammy’s land
Local train to Ballina
Then the local bus
Across a waste of emptiness
Bangor waits for us
An hour of travel through that bog
Stays with me to this day
The moorland bog the Owenmore
That takes us Bangor way
And here a brightness in the sky
Atlantic breezes beckon
And water on the tarmac says
More rain and soon I reckon
The journey westward is our life
From dear familiar places
We travel on through joy and strife
And greet familiar faces
And when the end of days is come
When the journey’s over
Please God all loved ones meet again
And welcome an Irish rover
Brian Fahy
7 July 2021
Erris Poetry 