Christmas Long Ago © Tony Fallon 122017
I think I liked it better on Christmas nights
When we were home in Ireland without electric lights
We didn’t have much but we cherished what we had
And comparing to the greed of today that was not so bad
Everybody tried to get home for the big dinner
No one weighed 400 pounds everyone was thinner
There were candles in the window in a jam jar
The ones in the gable windows could be seen from afar
I remember once in Dublin I had a whole week’s leave
And I hitchhiked it to Roscommon on Christmas Eve
The last leg of the trip I walked from Ballymurray
And I could see the gable candle as it started to flurry
Like me most of my friends had now gone away
And we talked of old times at mass on Christmas Day`
Isn’t rather strange how we treated that day with glee
Reminiscing about old times when you’re only twenty-three
On St Stephen’s day, I don’t remember doing anything
They wanted me in the wren boys they knew I could sing
It was many the year before I didn’t get home until ten
As I cycled miles and made money chasing the wren
There was racing in Leopardstown it went on nonstop
So I went to Roscommon to visit the bookie shop
Not one I picked won, not even the big handsome grey
I was better off if I went singing on St Stephen’s Day
I was back again at work in Dublin on New Years Day
The following year I cried myself to sleep in the USA
I spent St Stephen’s day with my cousins Annie and Matt
In Radio City Music Hall at the movie That Darn Cat
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