Life’s hidden sorrows
In ordinary life
Told to us in simple words
The sadness and the grief
And with it all the everyday
Morning noon and night
Life’s pure drama everywhere
Hidden in plain sight
A quiet girl a holiday
From her untidy home
Welcomed in a warm embrace
She fills a heart’s lost dream
The rough and tumble of her house
Replaced by cool and clean
And by a couple’s tenderness
She finds a world unseen
And Furlong in his steady way
Works hard in Ireland
Loves his wife and family
But somehow lacks command
Until it is revealed to him
The oppressive Irish air
And Furlong finds a daughter
And his own achievement rare
Brian Fahy
20 February 2023
+ I have just read two short stories by the Irish writer, Claire Keegan, Foster and Small Things Like These. Keegan is a superbly gifted writer who does not waste a word or use words unnecessarily. These two stories have been a pure joy to read and in their quiet and understated way say so much to us about the public face of life and its private sufferings.
Erris Poetry 