School Days©2019TonyFallon0120

School Days©2019TonyFallon0120

I remember walking to Rahara School and it was all uphill
In Kelly's field in spring there was many a daffodil
From the top of Sean Doyle's field there was a great view
I could see Slieve Bawn mountain if the sky was blue
I could also see the Cromleck with its ancient monoliths
Which was haunted by ghosts and other old wives myths
Sheeegith was incomparable when the furze were in bloom
I'm sure the mound on the top was some old king's tomb
That was a time when farmers field were as small as a plot
Yet needed to grow enough potatoes to fill the pig's pot
Some fields might be surrounded by ditches made of clay
But it might be stones surrounding the fields which grew hay
I could see below me many fields of oats and wheat
That's when the farmers used to sow what he was going to eat
To the south was Lough Funshinagh full of eel and pike
Sure I wouldn't see such beauty if I rode to school by bike
From bird's nests and ewes and lambs and cattle grazing
The amount of raw nature around me was truly amazing
I walked though many farms but not through oats or hay
Yet the farmer couldn't block me I had a legal right of way
Going from farm to farm there would be bushes in the gaps
And if you arrived late for school you'd get a couple of slaps
The farther you get from home the more your heart is pining
And you only remember days in Ireland when the sun was shining