I am of the western people
Of Mayo long ago
Of Glencullen and of Muinguinane
Carey lands I know
Of Doolough and Cloontiakilla
Where Mary Gaughan lived
My grandmother’s mother
The Gaelic tongue alive
That takes me back to famine times
And the people who lived then
Whose names and whose faces
Are lost beyond my ken
But people who belong to me
And I belong to them
And proudly I remember now
The bogland and the glen
And over on my father’s side
It’s western people too
From Westport way and Newport way
A place called Slinaunrue
A Fahy and a Loftus
Made their home back there
Again I reach to famine times
When food was all their care
And people out the Sligo way
And a girl from Monaghan
Complete my list of origins
As far back as I can
I belong to western people
From way out west I came
And I’d travel back tomorrow
If we could meet again
Brian Fahy
8 February 2022
+ This outburst is prompted by reading today an article by Brendan Hoban in the Western People, where he talks about the famine days and about his research into those times, where he makes connections with his own family. His book, Ocras The Great Famine in Killala Diocese is out now.
Erris Poetry 