The photo on this website
Is of a finger of the sea
That creeps inland from ocean-wide Clew Bay
Sailing boats at anchor
There ‘blue remembered hills’
Corraun mountain
Achill lies beyond
To the left and out of shot
Sheila’s Cottage stands
My sister’s home
Retired from Dusseldorf
No German trams run down this way
No River Rhine flows by
But ‘sprechen sie Deutsch’
Is never far away
It truly is a lovely spot
Five miles from Westport town
A seaside inlet tidal to her door
I remember a night of high spring tide
The waters breasting that stony side
A misty world a full moon lit the floor
And Sheila’s lovely German ways
Tablecloth German broth
Cake and coffee ceremony too
25 years beside the Rhine
Now in Rosmoney 25
Soon approaching beside this Mayo brine
There is something magical about the sea
Where it meets the shore
And here explores softer channels
Beneath the rolling hills
Its tidal waters ebb and flow
A visitor to Sheila’s door
There have been floods
Though not the worst of ills
This place has been a happy home
Karl and Sheila beside the foam
Living with the ebb and flow it brings
Peaceful days beside the sea
A welcome when we come to see
Sheila’s cottage tranquillity it sings
Brian Fahy
5 September 2021
Erris Poetry 