All the Changes

Cereal soup and soda bread

Now my favourite foods

And mugs of tea throughout the day

Keep me in good moods

There was a time when fancy wine

And pasta was the style

And a pint of beer always good cheer

Would pass the time a while

 

There was a time when happiness

Was felt the normal thing

And then came a depression

Dark clouds hovering

But clouds are scurrying passing things

Thank God they do not stay

And sunshine somewhere shining

Would brighten again the day

 

Like the National fences

My father knew the score

Poverty and army

War and so much more

Ill health then and dreary days

He kept riding through

The home straight was a piece of cake

Eileen will we have a brew?

 

So every life its ups and downs

Fences we must face

And steady riding needed

For a long demanding race

Each stage of life prepares you

My mother said to me

For what comes next

So prepare yourself

And take it gracefully

 

Brian Fahy

19 January 2022

 + As a boy I knelt next to my mother in church at the Novena devotions to Our Lady, as we prayed for her help ‘through all the changes of our journey through life’.