‘Heaven on earth’ he called it
His camera sent the shot
Dingle and the Blasket
A land that time forgot
Whitewashed little cabins
A calm and rolling sea
Islands in the ocean
Sleeping peacefully
It’s beautiful for heaven’s sake
Mountain sea and sky
Ocean breeze and singing grass
Fulmars way up high
Home to a long gone people
Who lived in harsher days
Who knew the wind and weather
Knew how the ocean plays
For heaven and hell contested here
And many a sunken ship
Foundered on an unseen reef
Foundered and came to grief
But island people made a life
Until it was time to go
And Springfield Massachusetts
Is a place that they all know
Out to a place called ‘Hungry Hill’
The island people came
And brought their Gaelic tongue with them
West Kerry the very same
But their hearts belong in Ireland
The place that gave them birth
Where my brother stood the other day
And called it heaven on earth
Brian Fahy
6 September 2021
Erris Poetry 