Category Archives: Uncategorized

The Queen liked my mother’s soda bread She had it with her tea one day I know A recipe from Glencullen and my granny To London from a home in old Mayo   My mammy watched her mammy make the bread And made it in her turn in Lancashire A drop of cold tea wasContinue reading “Royal Soda”

‘Doadly shing, mammy? Doadly shing?’ Yes my mother answered me That was a lovely song Mammy played her records Brought back from Ireland And I a child of maybe two I liked to sing along   And not just sing No – recognition too All important to any child alive For we are not justContinue reading “A Lovely Song”

  I have never waved a Union Jack I am not that way inclined I have never worn the poppy In November time I have an Irish flag at home Inherited somehow A quiet family token Not some raging vow   I have a Bolton Wanderers scarf Have worn it to keep me warm PrideContinue reading “Jubilee”

The sight of Dun Laoghaire in the morning Ship approaching through undulating sea Fresh wind on our faces in that dawning Ireland gives welcome now to me   Quiet harbour open arms to greet us Ireland still rising from its bed Bacon egg toast and tea to feed us Sugar Loaf Mountain showing us itsContinue reading “Wind On My Face”

Mooching in his man cave My brother finds the belt Nailed to a beam its work day done As though upon a shelf It used to be his father’s belt And granddad’s before that Brown leather belt on trouser duty In pit and pub and that   Heirloom of the family A strap for everyContinue reading “Brown Leather Belt”

An old man dies in Spain at 96 All his life the builder of a church In childhood days he saw his church ransacked And priests shot dead The Spanish Civil War   He joined the Trappist monks But could not stay Tubercolosis took his health away Undaunted he promised the Madonna He’d build aContinue reading “The Builder”

Melvyn Bragg looks back Back in the Day We all look back To see the way we came What brought us here? How did we come to be? The person that we are And is it fair?   Well life’s not fair Let’s state that to begin What gets us through is love If loveContinue reading “The Way We Came”

Tell me a story at the end of the day I’ve had enough of study Had enough of play Time to put my feet up Settle and relax Tell to me a story Before we’re making tracks   The ‘seanchai’ in olden times Talked the night away And novels read by candlelight Took us onContinue reading “Story Time”

Liverpool showed intensity Real showed how to pass Liverpool do the gegenpress Real just show their class   I watched the game unfold last night And Red intensity And Real just seemed to deal with it That’s their propensity   The power play of Liverpool Roared against Real The men in white kept passing TheyContinue reading “Intelligent Life”

She kneels before a statue of the Virgin And prays for all those children lately dead And for the boy who killed them too she prays For the torment that got inside his head   A child of mine? Maybe I’d lose my faith Or feel it ebb away in this world’s cold But fromContinue reading “Before the Madonna”

A lovely church Saint Mary of the Angels Beautiful and welcoming Gothic gold for God Here they left their baby Wrapped up on the steps Till it was found And warmly brought inside   A loving Irish couple Lost in London town In fear to have their baby born so soon Public scandal local shameContinue reading “Pressure”

Thoughts and prayers don’t fix it Although they are kindly meant Children killed in school Dispatched and heaven sent A sick and lonesome gunman Letting off some steam Buys himself a rifle This world can be so mean   And Americans still resist the change Freedom loving folk This is the bold wild west youContinue reading “Little Children”

I knew I lived in a lovely place For I could see the fields All around our new estate Miles and miles and miles   The town sat high upon the hill Hindsford down below The railway line from Manchester Our crescent in the snow   My mother father family Garden back and front OurContinue reading “Home Ground”

Dervla Murphy, Irish travel writer, has died aged 90. At the age of 10 she was given as a birthday present a bicycle and an atlas of the world. In one fell swoop she had been given a guide to places of the world and the means of getting there. It occurred to her atContinue reading “Energy”

Sometimes we feel sorry for ourselves For life is hard And things go wrong And we feel left alone And we look for what might cheer us Bring brightness to our sky But truly life is hard For you and I   And then I think of Jesus And all that he endured And howContinue reading “Standing At The Cross”