It’s always ‘Welcome home’
Because of the going away
Because sometime long ago
People couldn’t stay
American Wake they called it
Leaving Paddy’s land
Never to see the old folk more
Gone at life’s command
My father loved old Ireland
The open road the breeze
Elbow out the window
Cigarette at ease
Driving ever westward
Towards the setting sun
Mayo at the heartstrings
Dear old son of a gun
Home is where the heart is
And our hearts are in the West
Where our people came from
The dearest and the best
My roots are deep in Mayo
In people long since gone
They wait for us in heaven
And there we’ll sing the song
Brian Fahy
13 April 2023
+ For exiles and for the children of exiles returning to Ireland is always ‘going home’.
Erris Poetry 