FilledwithRage©2022TonyFallon0828

 FilledwithRage©2022TonyFallon0828

When we Irish read the old stories of a sage

Is it any wonder that we are filled with rage

Irish land given by English kings as grantors

And fill the north east with hated loyal planters

What we went through for many years was sheer madness

Thrown off their own farms and sent away in sadness

Then rented to others at exorbitant rents

If you didn't pay they threw out your entire contents

Told to suffer in grief and turn the other cheek

Or get flogged if they had the bravery to speak

Many a poor serf must have been sadly surprised

If there was no heaven after all when he died

The mighty Cromwell came and like a lion roared

And put many Irish in early graves by sword

Or alive find themselves west in Mayo displaced

On barren infertile land little more than waste

Their descendants still have no permanent abode

Still living in caravans and tents by the road

Then came the awful famine spreading to all coasts

And turned the living Irish into living ghosts

Even with the smell of death there was oppressions

Pay up or get out now no thought of concessions

Qualified as a farmer with no other skill

Couldn't even stay in the mud cabin on the hill

Our Food leaving on ships secured by heavy locks

Unloaded two days later on some English docks

The John Bulls were by then titled Lords and Ladies

I'm sure their decedents now drive round in Mercedes

Then in twenty two when the six counties was hatched 

Began a reign of terror that has been unmatched

Burnings and beatings all Catholics were impure

When they wound up in Ghettos then they felt secure

Then Ian Paisley's vile words added to the strife

The next target up could be a child or a wife

Supposed to be holy his thinking was antique

When it came to love he was not a Jesus freak

He is finally gone now we know where he went

I hope they encased this evil man in cement

GoodOldDays©2022TonyFallon0823

 GoodOldDays©2022TonyFallon0823

No more do the horses pull the plow

Nor the colleen deas milk the cow

No more will the young lad cast a glance

Hop off the bike for a new romance

He's flying down the road in a car

On his way to the local town bar

His feet are heavy on the throttle

Now the fresh milk comes in a bottle.

No more dancing at the old crossroads

Nor ceilis in the private abodes

There may be no more warm turf fire glow

But all homes still have a radio

They are driving miles as commuters

With telephones that are computers

While we remember ponies and traps

They're talking about twitter and apps

The past is on the YouTube for free

Or learn about it on grandpa's knee

Alas those days are not coming back

The happy old days before Prozac

Ambition ©2022TonyFallon0820

 Ambition ©2022TonyFallon0820

When I was growing up in the country I hadn't one ambition

I did not know what I would be but it was not a physician

While I was good at English I was better at math addition

And I did not want to be a priest in the African mission

My father was in the building trade but that was not appealing

Because I got dizzy at anything higher than a ceiling

If I was a farmer I would have to do a lot of plowing

And in summer I would have to use a scythe to do the mowing

Farming seemed like to me there were long days and far too much labor

I don't think I was cut out for that and I didn't like our neighbor

The work was far too back breaking to make a living in the bog

And they said that over in England and London there was much smog

When I left school at sixteen I wound up in the drapery trade

I might as well have stayed on in school for all I was being paid

I worked for a while with CIE on the railroad laying down new tracks

But it always seemed to be raining we were often wearing macks

Then on the old rocky road to Dublin I did one day debark

And wound up in digs with Gerry Cummings a few streets from Croke Park

At that time Low paying jobs in Dublin were somewhat abundant

But if I had stayed working in Clery's now I'd be redundant

At night I used to go out canvassing selling the soccer pools

Which was Raising some weekly money for St Josephs Blind Boys Schools

I said goodbye to my dear old Dublin and many trusty mates

I took a plane in Shannon one Sunday and wound up in the states

I missed the easy time in Ireland but yet I have no remorse

For the new York opportunities here are an abundant source

Sure I am always looking over my shoulder for old glories

And to anyone who'll listen I'll tell them old Irish stories

I would not have done as well if I had stayed in the Republic

I worked for a bank and for years I was a notary public

I've been in magazine and papers and still continue to write

And I'm often on the computer in the middle of the night

My mother taught all her sons how to darn their socks and how to cook

But I never thought on this day I'd have my own poetry book

When I was growing up in the country I hadn't one ambition

I did not know what I would be but it was not a physician

While I was good at English I was better at math addition

And I did not want to be a priest in the African mission

My father was in the building trade but that was not appealing

Because I got dizzy at anything higher than a ceiling

If I was a farmer I would have to do a lot of plowing

And in summer I would have to use a scythe to do the mowing

Farming seemed like to me there were long days and far too much labor

I don't think I was cut out for that and I didn't like our neighbor

The work was far too back breaking to make a living in the bog

And they said that over in England and London there was much smog

When I left school at sixteen I wound up in the drapery trade

I might as well have stayed on in school for all I was being paid

I worked for a while with CIE on the railroad laying down new tracks

But it always seemed to be raining we were often wearing macks

Then on the old rocky road to Dublin I did one day debark

And wound up in digs with Gerry Cummings a few streets from Croke Park

At that time Low paying jobs in Dublin were somewhat abundant

But if I had stayed working in Clery's now I'd be redundant

At night I used to go out canvassing selling the soccer pools

Which was Raising some weekly money for St Josephs Blind Boys Schools

I said goodbye to my dear old Dublin and many trusty mates

I took a plane in Shannon one Sunday and wound up in the states

I missed the easy time in Ireland but yet I have no remorse

For the new York opportunities here are an abundant source

Sure I am always looking over my shoulder for old glories

And to anyone who'll listen I'll tell them old Irish stories

I would not have done as well if I had stayed in the Republic

I worked for a bank and for years I was a notary public

I've been in magazine and papers and still continue to write

And I'm often on the computer in the middle of the night

My mother taught all her sons how to darn their socks and how to cook

But I never thought on this day I'd have my own poetry book

IrishEyes ©️2022TonyFallon0810

 IrishEyes ©️2022TonyFallon0810

I remember walking the sandy roads without a pair of shoes

And soaking my aching feet in the river to ease any bruise

So, there was little pity for sore toes or other abrasions

I had one pair of new shoes held back for all special occasions

Confession communion at mass or maybe at confirmation

Showing up in the bare ones would not add to your reputation

When I reminisce about my youth we had to improvise

Those are times I remember with much sorrow in my Irish eyes

  

We only had one bike and a trap pulled by a small pony

When we got to church, we gave him  hay  and tied him to a tree

The people lived up to three miles away and some used shanks mare

There were ponies and traps and bicycles, but cars were so rare

When mass was over the holy women might do the stations

While we waited at the shop for the Sunday publications

The memory of Sunday dinner with roast rooster and pies

Even after sixty years in New York brings tears to my eyes

Then I recall better days when we got electricity

And left behind the olden days of country simplicity

Who could not but be affected by the box in the corner

Showing us how far we were behind many a foreigner

Many a teenage boy would not be caught dead in a white shirt

The girls were throwing away their bras and wearing mini skirts

What this burst of culture did to Dev I can only surmise

When I think of my great teenage years there's no tears in my eye

There were so many new words now that we never heard in school

Like rock and roll and the huckelbuck and Fonsie just was cool

the pants being worn were either skintight or bell bottom flare

And four rebel guys from Liverpool no longer cut their hair

The older people loudly proclaimed this new music was trash

They'd rather hear Willie Brady Patsy Cline or Johnnie Cash

My mother was shaken when she heard of Jim Reeves demise

At each night's rosary she prayed for him with tears in her eyes.

ThePhonyAds©️2022TonyFallon0903

 ThePhonyAds©️2022TonyFallon0903

There are many ads on the computer looking for your cash

Expensive looking things priced cheaply but many are just trash

People cannot believe their luck at such a little amount

And trustingly give a company their credit card account

Weeks will go by, and you get nothing because nothing was shipped

When it's too late you read the little words contained in the script

When you begin to sue them, they are no longer in the trade

They are on a vacation spending the money you have paid

Each year they get glibber with the come-ons, and they grow more deft

Half off for the next hour and a half and there's not many left

They talk about Ninety-dollar AC's supposedly the best

Thirty dollars in Walmart and they wouldn't cool a mouses nest

Their fake AC is not an actual air conditioner

But while Zuckerman gets the dollars there's no commissioner

They'll tell you this new product will magnificently perform

And that it is so good it's taking the entire world by storm

There are things to save you at the pump or slow down your meter

Or promises to heat your house with an Amish style heater

The advantage of Intrnet shops no need to visit the store

Amazon eBay and others will ship for free to your door

There's adjustable glasses to help with your eye corrections

And cheap Viagra knock offs to help with old men's erections

They will tell you about Lowes having real cheap grass mowers

Plus, battery-operated whackers and cordless blowers

There is no doubt some honest internet people have great deals

There is no one getting two-hundred-dollar automobiles

Saws flashlights teeth whiteners and even ear wax removers

If you are thinking refunds, they have illegal maneuvers

The latest invention was the idea of a chemist

Who didn't break any 0ld patents and is not a plagiarist

The latest brilliant inventor is a young bumpkin named Claude

And if big business owners find him, he'll face the firing squad

Some people will buy anything that only costs a few bucks

And the present laws are not strong enough to protect those schmucks

Operating knowingly that from funds a fool is parted

Lesson to be learned the internet is not for fainthearted