When I went to Ireland
I travelled back in time
Left industrial Lancashire
Its coal dust and its grime
Made my way across the sea
Into another land
And backwards into poverty
They called it Paddy’s land
My father often sang that song
His voice clear in my mind
‘In Paddy’s land
But poverty you’ll find’
And yet he truly loved the place
He could have settled there
The boxty and the bacon
The pint and the fresh air
But life demanded otherwise
A family to feed
And so he lived in Lancashire
Seeing to our need
But every year in summertime
We faced into the West
The breezes out of Erris blew
It was the very best
Brian Fahy
17 December 2022
+ In many ways we had the best of both worlds, growing up in Lancashire and visiting Mayo every summer. Glencullen was my second home. I had two homes all my life. No one could be richer.
Erris Poetry 