Category Archives: Uncategorized

The local town hall the synagogue Where the locals meet To organise the neighbourhood Arrange who cleans the street To listen to a teaching Bow the head and pray Make sure that they are up to date And people have their say   And on a Sabbath morning Jesus is given the floor To speakContinue reading “A Seat In The Synagogue”

We begin again The calling of disciples Zebedee not too pleased I don’t suppose Losing his two sons Two good workers How to make a living Heaven knows   Jesus begins in Galilee With preaching Words to enter hearts And change the world Opposition soon will come Won’t have an easy run Success at firstContinue reading “Jesus Begins”

  I like the number 75 So we are going to celebrate it Going to visit Margaret’s grave Put some flowers there Then off with us to a lovely pub Fish and chips lovely grub A pint of ale all square   My grandsons are great talkers now We won’t be lost for words MichaelContinue reading “Passing a Milestone”

I needn’t worry Everything is here Water light and warmth Every day appear The shop is round the corner Food in great supply Whisky if I want it Here’s mud in your eye   How different from Glencullen A hundred years ago When mammy was a little girl That glen ‘all that I know’ WaterContinue reading “Water From The River”

  It always was a wonder Magical for a child To ride a train in darkness To enter Wales so wild   To come into a station Harbour right beside Everything in darkness Dark the water wide   Chalk upon our cases Walk the gangplank high Come into a world of light Lounge and barContinue reading “The Crossing”

She’s a wild flower of Drumilra But she’s also German too She comes from Philadelphia Now have you got a clue? She was a star of the silver screen Then a princess fair Beautiful and gracious Kind and debonair   Visiting ancestral roots In a townland in Mayo Enjoying tea and soda bread A changeContinue reading “The Flowers of Drumilra”

  I always found him Sitting in his chair Newspaper cup of tea Racing on from Ayr He never heard me Coming in the door Those old ears Deaf from gunnery From many years before   But one day He surprised me As I drove up in my car Before the engine was turned offContinue reading “King Of Diamonds”

There has to be you Someone that I talk to Like Tom Hanks’ Castaway Even a ball will do   But I am only me If you are there you see And you are always there Just took a long time to realise You wouldn’t leave me spare   Tonight in church I see SilentContinue reading “My Favour Rests On You”

It sits there the mountain Inviting us to climb And if you’ve got MND You haven’t got much time But Charlie says he’ll do it He has even planned the day A sponsored climb for those now sick And for those who couldn’t stay   Croagh Patrick like a pyramid Pointed pinnacle Rising from theContinue reading “Facing The Mountain”

Some stories should never be forgotten.   An Irishman newly arrived in Tyldesley and working down the pit, was living in a lodging house with two other men. At Christmas time his mother sent him a chicken and he asked the landlady if she would cook it for his tea. That evening the roast chickenContinue reading “An Irishman and his Dinner”

It was like a pyramid Or a Ziggurat A stack of turf outside my uncle Hugh’s Sods of turf built high Cut and dried in Mayo air Brought home by ass and cart Along that thoroughfare The boreen down to Hugh’s I knew so well   And always the smell of turf When I landedContinue reading “Turf Fire Memories”

I wish that I could write a poem Like the one by Robert Frost Maybe about great uncle Owen And the soldiers killed by machine gun mowing A generation lost   Or a poem about those vivid faces So well described by Yeats Those people of motley and their graces Now forgotten though some leftContinue reading “Writing a Poem”

The people that lived in darkness That’s us We live in the land and shadow of death That’s us Covid covers us Pandemic We have no joy No light we see We must assess ourselves You and me   The Lord began to preach and to heal All kinds of sickness Some we have ourselvesContinue reading “Galilee of the Nations!”

He was never mentioned by name He doesn’t deserve it A man who uses words so loosely Fodder for a cannon ball Does not deserve to hear his name Has been that’s all   Threw words around just as he pleased Whatever will serve will do You’re wonderful people (They lap it up) Wonderful peopleContinue reading “The Former…”

The sky was a crimson blaze when I woke up Not for long indeed too short a time The old familiar grey The dank and dismal coverlet of cloud Came all to quickly Our almost daily shroud   So it’s good to hear We might have snow today Not too much I hope Enough toContinue reading “Snow”