Catching Those Girls

I am on the hunt for ancestors

For the girls that went away

Who kissed their mother a sad good-bye

Going to Amerikay

They used to hold a wake for that

I am never coming home

You’ll never see my face again

I am condemned to roam

 

They left that plot in Slinaun

A new century begun

They left before the slaughter

Of Ypres and the Somme

Before the streets of Dublin

Had heard the name of Pearse

Before old Ireland burst in flame

And bloody murder fierce

 

They settled down Chicago way

Families they found

And now I am a-hunting

Upon the self same ground

I want to see the faces

I want them to see mine

We are those children’s children

It is reunion time

 

I want to know about those girls

And what became of them

I do not need a sailing ship

I can find them with my pen

Separation was the pain they bore

Goodbye to all they knew

Mary Loftus let us celebrate

I found them all for you

 

Brian Fahy

29 October 2021