An old photograph
Main St Bangor Erris
The row of houses
Reilly’s petrol pump
The door into the shop
Where mammy bought the food
The window of the parlour
Where we children sipped lemonade
And waited for Tom Conmy
To bring the Vanguard car
Don’t come too soon said Uncle Hugh
You know where we are
We had travelled far from Tyldesley
From coalmines cobbled streets
And left behind those accents
Of Bongs and Bent and Leigh
Now a breeze was in our face
And the smell of turf fires bright
The smoke like incense nostrils flared
Taking in delight
The road looks west Belmullet way
We will not go that far
But forking right and climbing
To the lake of Carrowmore
And round by Cloontiakilla
Big Turn coming soon
And along that boreen to the place
That became my lifetime’s dream
And after shouts from cousins
And boxty by the hearth
A walk down to the river
The place that gave us birth
The sound of rippling water
The bog brown river true
The flow of life forever
Welcomes, welcomes you
Brian Fahy
4 March 2022
Erris Poetry 