Cahirciveen

My brother heads for Ireland soon

Cork and Kerry way

With two old pals for company

A ten-day holiday

 

The English Market will be seen

Before they heard out west

And take in the town of Cahirciveen

Then Ballyferriter their nest

 

And a trip to the Blasket Island

Of ‘Twenty Years a Growing’

The land of dear Peig Sayers

I wish that I were going

 

But I pointed out a sacred spot

In the town of Cahirciveen

The splendid church yes of course

But it’s a graveyard spot I mean

 

For here lies Hugh O’Flaherty

Vatican pimpernel

Who led the Nazis a merry dance

As they turned Rome into hell

 

Six thousand souls he helped to save

And hide before their eyes

A scratch golfer in his early days

But this his greatest prize

 

I think of gravestones of the war

I see my father’s grave

I salute the lives of every one

They died then trying to save

 

Salvation is our greatest theme

I preached it when a Red

I understand it better now

Bring back to life what’s dead

 

And the ultimate salvation

Christ on Calvary

Who died that we might learn to live

His love our liberty

 

Brian Fahy

27 August 2021