Picking pumpkins
Arnprior farm
Straw bales piled up high
Children jump into Michael’s arms
Really they can fly
Climb again and jump again
Wee birds in the air
Trusting they’ll be caught again
Michael is always there
So much fun that Saturday
Making memories
Remember jumping off the straw
Like birdies wee birdies
Meanwhile in Glasgow
A few miles down the road
A boy is stabbed to death
Fourteen years old
Too young to die
Drawing his last breath
Perhaps he used to jump off bales
Not so long ago
When out with friends in carefree fields
Or rolling round in snow
Life is made for climbing bales
And jumping in the air
And daddies catch their children
For daddies are always there
Brian Fahy
18 October 2021
Erris Poetry 