Horse and cart
Two men sit either side
Behind above around them
A light and brooding sky
They say farewell to Mayo
Himself and Millington Synge
The Guardian paid them handsomely
But so much more they bring
Paintings done in Erris
Walks upon the strand
Geesala in their memory
Belmullet where they land
And fireworks in Carter Square
A little girl she holds the hand
And miles of bog and no one there
And poverty perfumed the air
And the Playboy came to stand and stare
And wasn’t it just grand
That fateful journey brought so much
To artists now who brought their touch
To write and paint the life out there
Beyond most people’s look or stare
The Erris of the long ago
The Erris too that I still know
The western edge Atlantic way
Where rain is king
Did you save your hay?
The bleakness and the blessed day
The sun at evening
God bless all here
My mother’s land
The smile the tear
American Wake
The going away
Those left behind
The livelong day
The brooding cloud that threatens rain
The yellow sun declining
And heads turned back
Will we come again?
Will we ever see their likes again?
They had seen some things they had never seen
The cold the damp the sullen clothes
A forgotten people God only knows
Thank God we now have better days
And people come to stand amazed
At Erris beauty sea and shore
It stole my heart when young astor
As writing painting recreate
For Millington and Jack B Yeats
That journey that they took of late
In Erris long ago
Brian Fahy
21 October 2021
+ In 1905 the Manchester Guardian employed the writer, John Millington Synge and the painter, Jack B Yeats to journey into the west of Ireland to report in words and sketches on conditions in that western world. As well as the articles for the newspaper, that journey produced the play, Playboy of the Western World, and many paintings by Yeats. One of those paintings is entitled A Farewell To Mayo (1929).
Erris Poetry 