Author Archives: tyldesleyboy

Retrieved from what was lost Brought back into a fold No longer now forsaken Your precious story told All the lives we throw away Discard into a bin Recovered now and cherished For the life that might have been   The crucified he stands for all Arms wide upon a cross Identified as refuse HeContinue reading “Unforgotten”

Old Firm an ancient poison Entrenched in a fair green place Choking people up with hate Anger in your face It’s Ulster’s story told again A transplanted people’s pain The famine brought the Irish here To join a crowded drain   Not wanted and not welcome Easy to see why The Glasgow poor were poorContinue reading “Green and Blue”

My mother’s place is wild Just blanket bog My father’s people Knew a greener place For them the drumlins of Clew Bay The little hills beside the sea And Westport Newport Never far away   The great divide The hills of Nephin Beg And the road that runs Round Claggan mountainside To the south aContinue reading “Ancestral Places”

Stand in the busy street And you don’t count at all There are thousands there just like you Crushed beside a wall The noise is ever deafening Would destroy your soul And traffic always traffic Seeking out its goal   But look at where you came from A world just there for you Mountains inContinue reading “Woman of Erris”

They came from quiet places People of the bog Down a quiet boreen Beside the door a dog Cottages of whitewash Curling wispy smoke A welcome warm inside Tea to warm the throat   Out they went and far away Over to New York And lived their days with energy Good nature and fine talkContinue reading “From Quiet Places”

A hall of sullen faces Listen to the speech Autocrat at the dais Power out of reach Protest swiftly punished Taken off to gaol Opposition finished We never hear the wail   A friend of mine once told me About my silences He found them intimidating More power than words can say I have toContinue reading “A Worried Man”

How to deal with Hitler Chamberlain tried so hard You are dealing with a devil Not an easy card And when we failed to stop him We found ourselves at war The final note Lay on the ground Hitler did not care   How to deal with Putin Be careful what we do We cannotContinue reading “Pater Noster”

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 lostContinue reading “Claire Keegan ~ Irish Writer”

A doctor has died in Ireland Testimonies pour in He was an amazing doctor A kind and generous man   And Jesus doctor to us all An epileptic heals today This powerful condition Requires that we should pray   And here am I sore throat today And wheezy chesty cough Went in search of medicineContinue reading “Sickness and Health”

A body has been found And that’s a mercy A missing person leaves an aching heart Some one disappears Is never found An empty chair A room a place apart   There’s comfort to be found Where there’s a grave A place to go and grieve a shrine to make To pour out love ForContinue reading “This is My Body”

Tyldesley Cobbled streets and smoky skies Miners’ phlegm and grandma’s pies Coal dust paths and privet hedges Games of football Christmas sledges Sandstone church all painted black From dust in’th air and nutty slack Flat caps pipes and cigs galore Queuing for’t pictures out the door Walk down’t road for bus and tram Don’t doContinue reading “Origin of the Species”

Mark 9:2-13   We do not see It isn’t for our eyes That glory on the mountainside A glare to mesmerise Enough for us the daily scene From morning light till dusk Enough for us the common sense In which we put our trust   The Lord appears among us A normal human soul ReadContinue reading “Down From The Mountain”

I found that mediation works, and can even work wonders. I met with estranged partners and parents, who sometimes found it difficult even to be in the same room. Any direct conversation would easily break down, when emotion surfaced and somebody said the wrong thing. That is where the mediator’s role comes in. Talking withContinue reading “Speak And Be Accepted”

We ought to pray for Russia Like we did before And pray for the Ukraine Perhaps it needs it more For problems are intractable Just like a knotted rope The longer it goes on The less it seems does hope   Supplying tanks and aeroplanes To bolster a defence While Russia pours in soldiers AndContinue reading “The Help Of God”

While I slept Storm Otto came along And blew my garden fence near to the ground I’ve propped it up for now Until a proper job Can make my little garden safe and sound   Then I read about a new born babe Whose mum through earthquake Held him safe and sound Inside her tumContinue reading “Natural Disaster”