TheDanceLegend ©2024TonyFallon55

 TheDanceLegend ©2024TonyFallon55

Whether at a Feis or a parade

Wherever Irish music is played

You will find someone who wants to dance

If only given half a chance

Be she a young colleen or lady

A McCarthy or an O'Grady

Steps may be just one two three four

She is now the queen of the floor

It may be impromptu or unplanned

But the audience will understand

We were so lucky here in Greene

All the Dancers knew their routine

This comes after many lessons

Practiced often at training sessions

Some families were in the dozens

Moms and daughters and first cousins

Steps learned and danced no one forgets

Whether it's jigs reels hornpipes or sets

They were not gaudy they were not loud

Students who made their parents proud

With Mike Farrell in sole command

The weekly training was well planned

Years from now maybe even faster

Girls will,say I learned from the master

Some coaches may be loud or preachers

Mike Farrell was the king of teachers

With Jeanne Meade he kept dreams alive

A reel legend on one forty five

CocksOfHay©2024TonyFallon502

 CocksOfHay©2024TonyFallon502

The sun was shining brightly on that late June day

The second day of sunshine we had to save the hay

It had been a wet summer with frequent daily rain

And it would surely rot if it got wet again

It it had not been cut it would have been flattened

Or let the cattle in so they could be fattened

It was a long day's work we were ready after dawn

There was a lot of hay this was more than a lawn

It was a fine big field could be more than five acres

We had a few people with forks and a few rakers

Hay saving was important the cow had to be fed

When in winter she'd spend the cold nights in her shed

Making larger cocks we could no longer postpone

It had been three weeks since the green grass had been mown

It had been turned and tossed twice and turned one time more

Many hands had blisters and fingers that were sore

Knees were sore too from walking around that big field

While blisters and corns on a few feet were concealed

The farmer operated a rake pulled be a horse

He gathered the hay in circles like it was a course

The wife brought us tea sandwiches and bottled water

All the lads perked up later when she sent the daughter

Many cheeks were burned red from not wearing wide sun hats

We called it a day after an invasion of gnats.

TheEnglishLass©2024TonyFallon423

 

TheEnglishLass©2024TonyFallon423

The first time I met her she was a pretty teenage lass

She was coming from first and I going to second mass

I had to admire as she headed in my direction

In that twenty seconds or so she passed my inspection

I said hello to the lovely lass meaning her no harm

I assumed she was the daughter at the new Murphy farm

I was the local country lad she was of English stock

And she looked so lovely that day in her gay floral frock

It not only enhanced her lovely face but her full form

Springtime was in the morning air and it was getting warm

I had to admire her lovely smile and her gloveless hands

As I cycled my way to second mass with racing glands

The next week went by so much slower than an old snails pace

All I had were many visions of that lovely girls face

I spent the whole week checking the week end weather forecasts

In case there would be heavy rain on Sunday for first mass

I would prefer it wasn't raining and she didn't wear a coat

Or so cold she would have to wear a scarf around her throat

The time was almost at hand when I would have to impress

The new English girl in the village with the lovely dress

I knew I had to work fast my future was now at stake

My thoughts of us never clicking were keeping me awake

Sunday morning the sun shone brightly and birds were singing

This could be a good kick start of a brand new beginning

I did not catch sight of her as I made my lonely ride

But when I finally saw her I very nearly cried

For she had gotten there early in a pony and trap

And walking her inside the church was a well dressed young chap

I felt my world collapse which really was ironic

We did not even meet so you couldn't call it platonic

I was now heartbroken I no longer had a heartthrob

So I headed to England and I quickly got a job

Some weeks later I got a letter signed by my mother

Telling me the lad with the girl was her older brother

So I guess you'd have to say I had a slim delusion

But much worse than that I had jumped to the wrong conclusion

SleeplessInCairo©2024TonyFallon415

 SleeplessInCairo©2024TonyFallon415

As I aroused this morning I was barely awake

I knew on the spot I was making a big mistake

It would be a lot more productive for me if instead

I had stayed trying to go back to sleep in my warm bed

First I would be on my back prone then I'd be upside down

I was so frustrated I couldn't stop this turning around

I finally got up and started walking round the floor

It was raining outside when I looked outside the door

The room was a bit cold as the boiler had not yet fired

It was only four or five hours since I had retired

The sun had not yet risen and it was still pitch dark

And the bloody dog next door let out a lonely bark

In the trees a lot of birds were singing in our block

Why are they so happy it is not yet five O'clock

With no one else awake in the house this could get boring

I could have been relaxed if I had just kept snoring

I don't want to watch Facebook and I don't watch TV

I could dream of winning money at Bingo at the Koc

To help me back to dreamland I started counting sheep

That made me edgier alas I could not go to sleep

I could have gone for a run if I was in condition

But then I might faint and they'd have to call a physician

I couldn't get the least bit drowsy I could not even yawn

I was walking around the bedroom at the crack of dawn

Despite my most valiant efforts I did not retire

I did minor exercises, but they made me perspire

I would make noise in the bathtub at this ghostly hour

And I'd even make more noise if I took a shower

I've been going around grouchy all day with a short fuse

I heard more than one person say "I think he's sniffing glues''

I've been going through today with cobwebs in my head

Most people think I got out the wrong side of the bed

LiesLiesTonyFallonApril132021

  LiesLiesTonyFallonApril132021

April 12302

1What you told me long ago I shall not soon forget

that you’d be always here I should not fret

You told me you loved me and that I should wait

a contradictory statement just flirting bait

you loved another your love for me was fake

you pierced my heart with the devils stake

Some like to keep others hanging on the hook

Pretend but do not show them your black book

In case other evil plans suddenly fall apart

In other words always have a spare heart

TooLate©2024 TonyFallon411

 TooLate©2024 TonyFallon411

It's no good being nice to the dead
In a coffin an eternal bed
All the friends now say don't they look swell?
But alas they knew they were not well
As they daily grew weaker and frail
And waited for their final inhale
It's then a visit could be healing
Better than looking at a ceiling
It's a long time since they were baptized
Now lonely days waiting the despised
No time when they needed approval
Yet all plans change for the removal
I fear too many have a taboo
Of just telling the sick "I love you".

Loveapril923

 Love april923

i wanted us to last forever
but it did not work out that way
that would be far too simple
you would have to stay
good time was often wasted
we two could not afford
time and time again and again
good will we needed was not stored

The Great Divide

 The Great Divide Tony Fallon april923

When I was a younger man I crossed the great divide
Crossed the wide Atlantic Ocean to the Hudson side
I was coming to an elder aunt with a spare room
Having someone to meet took away some of the gloom
Up until that time I had never travelled so far
I had owned a bicycle never a motor car
I got a job quickly a used car was on my mind
Within a month I was reading ads for a cheap find
I found a Thunderbird with only forty thousand miles
When I got to Inwood all the girls I knew had smiles
I was lonely for home but the paycheck softened the shock
The job was nearby so I was home by five o'clock
I often drove on the weekends and my heart would gladden
An Irish country boy needed a break from Manhattan
I played Irish football and danced in the Irish halls
And I drove to cousins living in Niagara falls
I've written poems and stories and been on the air
I host an Irish radio show and one over there
People shake their heads in awe and say I'm so diverse
They shake it more when they hear about my thousand verse
I'm as Irish as I was when I came over the pond
But all the people I knew are dead so there's no more bond
My friends ask if I went to Ireland could I still compose
Maybe I could or maybe I couldn't who really knows

esther

 Sometime there's a crowd sometimes I'm almost alone

But that rarely ever happens when I read for Esther Cohen

Sometimes we are sad or so merry we are drawn to tears

I was supposed to come for one summer now it's fourteen years

I'm beginning to think I'm Esther's favorite Irish bloke

I bet before we go home tonight she'll ask me for a joke

We've had all kinds of students tall and short and thin

And a couple of weird ones too don't let me begin

One time there was a family who seemed so very nice

The were in the witness protection the father paid the price

One student went to  New Orleans and spent forty  hours on a bus

Stayed only five minutes because his brother started to cuss

One poem one night was scary and a timid woman got spooked

She excused her self I think she went to the bathroom and puked

I've often thought about that poor woman she is my concern

She must have given up poetry because she never did return.

I've written 900 poems already I'm officially a geek

But that's nothing to Esther she write seven every week

I'm good at mechanics and great at mathematical calculations

But no matter how hard I try I can't meter  expectations

WGXCRap by Tony Fallon. Tony Fallo

 WGXCRap by Tony Fallon. Tony Fallon.   

 Are you in love, in love like me?                 With radio station wgxc

We can’t survive like bees on honey,               Every six months we need more money           

This drive will go on for many more days, Or until 15 thousand dollars we finally raise.

Oh yes oh yes we need more dough Call six nine seven, seven four oh, oh.

When you have a studio you must pay rent You can’t run a radio station out of a tent.

Air conditioning and heat eat up donations, At both the Hudson and Acra locations

And whether you like Irish, country or rap Some part of our money goes as fees to ASCAP

So you can see why we need more dough Call six nine seven, seven four oh, oh

Everybody volunteering keeps expenses down,We are the most resourceful station in this town.       

 Hosts come in weekly to do their shows,In summer heat, and in winter snows.

And for an hour or two hold down the fort,So won’t you call up and give them support

Oh yes oh yes we need more dough Call six nine seven, seven four oh, oh.

 

We’ll give you tee shirts or we’ll give you totes,If you’ll give us two or three ten dollar notes.

For our dilemma there is the only one solution          A tax deductible contribution.

To make donating not so hard Just give us the number of your credit card

We'll also take cash or personal checks It will be used for every day projects

 Oh yes oh yes we need your dough, Call six nine seven seven four oh oh.

If we don’t get enough we are out on a ledge Please, please won’t you call and make a pledge

And tell all your neighbors and your friends.To listen every day till the pledge drive ends.

When the final total goes over the top,This years pledge drive will come to a  stop.

So you see it is important that we get your dough,     Please call six nine seven, seven four oh, oh.

LoughFunshinagh©2024TonyFallon326

 LoughFunshinagh©2024TonyFallon326

The waves started near Ardmullen like a distant ridge

Broke and rose once again in perpetual motion

No longer island to tame them there is much erosion

On and on they came to finally crash at Scally bridge

All the Beattie families must live in constant fear

That swans ducks and pike will soon be sharing their abode

When the filled sandbags can no longer save Ballagh road

And all wish the dissapearing lake would dissapear

Water water everywhere when will it stop cresting

Never before has the water been so deep or high

And it has been twenty five years since the lake went dry

The island have dissapeared no place for birds nesting

The flooding caused relocation of cattle and pigs

This was not caused by a few storms but rain repeated

Made worse by a solution that was not completed

Stopped by wealty busybodies beter knows as prigs

The Last Day

 Susan was a blind poet who lived in Alaska.She gave me a list of thirty words and asked me to write a poem. This is what I wrote.I don't think I saved it so I'm putting todays date on it.

TheLastDay©2024TonyFallon320

The Last day I saw her it was very cold

I spent little money on her I was a miser

 I wanted her in my family fold

I should not have let her go I should be wiser; 

If we had donuts that day we could dunk

But we spent some time rolling in the hay

And took pictures of her purple hair of punk

I begged her more than once to stay;

I prayed to God in his Heavenly height

Then the thunder started to roll

She said there’s remorse but no spite

I’ll come back before the Super bowl; 

That Sunday you and I once more will cleave

But now you need time to clear your brain.

You can hide in your hat but not your sleeve.

If I’m going crazy my sanity I must try to maintain

Missing313 2024

Missing  

Sometimes I see a pretty girl on the street tis then you I miss

Not only I remember your laugh and smile I also miss your kiss

You'd have thought all those memories would slip away with the years

But all those loving memories are our teenage souveneirs

The plans we had the dreams to fill an essence of our own

The many years not knowing whither or yon the great unknown

For six long months there was no one else without many plans

Like silly geese in puppy love the maturing of the glands

We had dreams of being together but I had an empty purse

While you had great ambitions to become a Hospital nurse

But things don't get better by themselves and did not improve

And while your parents put up with me they did not approve

I had no business to inherit so I knew they were right

I was not the oldest son so immigration was in sight.

So I boarded a jet One day in May I shall not forget

Leaving you and dear old Ireland on a day I oft regret

To the river glen and the winding road I bid a sad adieu

If you had not gone to town I would have said it to you

Those happy days are long gone with regret I look back

The suitcase was filled so long ago alas I can't unpack

The large wa;;et in my pocket was earned with sweat and tears

I wish you had come with me because now we'd be milliomaires

TheFamousBicycle©2024TonyFallon314

 

TheFamousBicycle©2024TonyFallon314

I pushed an old bicycle past your window last night

It has good brakes and tires but it has no front light

It's good for the roads but not good  in the wet fields

It should last you forever there's two invisible wheels

You know you can't keep it its just being lended

And you will return it when this lockdown is ended

I heard your new bicycle is a prisoner pardon the pun

You need some exercise and you're too old to run

I put it in the shed so it will  not gather any rust

And leave the police tag on it as we discussed

If anybody makes a fuss  they'd have to be insane

When you go to town buy a good lock and chain

We do want it back it's already been nicked 

If that happened again it might cause conflict

This is my good deed I don't want any reward

The camera was on so all the footage is stored

Lough Funschinagh

 Lough Funschinagh by Tony Fallon.(C)22416

Come listen to my story all you friends and peers,

And I’ll tell you of a Rahara Lake that often disappears.

It doesn’t bother the locals, in fact, they think it's common,

That a lake should disappear in the County of Roscommon.

The first time I saw an eel I thought it was a snake,

As I walked in shallow waters of the Disappearing Lake

If you want to know how to get there coming from Lecarrow

Turn left into O’Connor’s road which is winding and narrow

The further you go on that road the more it becomes remote

The kind of terrain more suited for a donkey or maybe a goat

In there you’ll have the company of wild geese, duck and drake.

They and seagulls nest their young ones on the Disappearing Lake

It is surrounded on all sides by roads plus wet and regular land

There is no kind of beaches because there is not a bit of sand

I often went there fishing with rod and reel and expensive gear,

But I never caught anything like the Beattie’s did with a spear

Ah! the pike that came from Funshinagh was the poor man’s steak.

And you couldn’t say the water wasn’t fresh in the Disappearing Lake

A Limerick woman came there once and with cameras was geared

But when she got there after travelling the lake had disappeared

I stood on Ardmullen hill one evening the lake stretched many miles

When you are far away in America those memories cause smiles

Another evening the sun was setting and I heard the corncrake

And watched the water turning red on the Disappearing Lake

One time my son and I were home on a bit of a summer vacation,

The lake was disappearing and Ardmullen was our daily location

If our fancy friends in New York saw us then they would be awestruck

To see us fighting off the locals for some pike in the Roscommon muck

Many Pictures of fish we caught and the dry terrain we did take,

For there was not a drop of water left in the Disappearing Lake

And now something has gone terribly wrong drought replaced by floods

That threatens farmers livestock their oats and wheat and spuds

Is this the end result of all the recent winters rain and storming 

Or another warning sign from nature about this global warming

Whoever though that shore dwellers would have to lie awake

Worrying about flooding, by water, from the Disappearing Lake.

Boost Post

Rita RIP ©2024TonyFallon215

 Rita RIP ©2024TonyFallon215

As Rita stood there with a lump in her throat

A letter in one hand in the other a ten pound note

She was proudly wearing her mother's gift of a coat

The first of her family to fly the others went by boat

She left the sad Knockcroghery Roscommon Ireland

With everything she owned in a suitcase in hand

But her parents and relaties were not the only one who pined

Her true love Brian from Rahara she was leaving behind

The hackney would take her to Shannon for the flight

And she'd sleep in  a new bed in the Bronx that night

But first there was the question of how all were at home

And if she was unemployed or she had a wandering syndrome

Over the years she'd drive from Yokers and leave the heat

And wind up with Cillian and Aidan  on Alabama Street

Since we all arrived there's been changes we have to adjust

Sometime to those changes we react with utter disgust

We lost the Kennedy brothers to bullets way too soon 

But we flew ships to mars and put men on the moon

Some people believed Covid was not a dangerous disease

In sex education bird are not birds and bees not bees

The country is in upheval and communities are divided

The Democrats and Republicans idea have collided

For four years we had Trump almost four more of Biden

They are candidates again and the division seems to widen

When God takes a loved one from us without any explanations

That's the time we need the companionship of our relations

So we came here to shed a tear for times that were better

She left her mark on all of us we shall not soon forget her.

SpiltBlood©2024TonyFallon0125

SpiltBlood©2024TonyFallon0125

I sat beside the river and tried to hold back tears

As I relived the memories hidden there for years

The spot we lingered at as we thought about farewell

Not far from two nights later from a bullet you fell

I'm guilty because the bullet was meant for my head

My blood splattered shirt and hands and quickly you were dead

Another senselees attempted rub out that was botched

That shirt I keep in an old bag never to be washed

I'm sure this violence led to some more killing sprees

As hatred in two socities became a disease

Each year the new spring grass grows green from Irish blood spilt

And leaves old folks like me to carry with us the guilt

I hope you do not think your beauty I have forgot

Or the marble headstone in the graveyard by your plot

ViolentNight©2023TonyFallon1231

 ViolentNight©2023TonyFallon1231

Violent night oh violent night

Oh my god the world is uptight

Christmas Eve no longer is mild

All over the world people are defiled

In the middle east babies are being killed

And parents dreams are being unfilled

What good alas is a border

It can't unarm a deadly mortar

Now the weapons more easily kill

You can't hide in a hole or behind a hill

Russia clains they are not opressors

Yet we know Putin desires  Ukraine professors

Again the Nazi word is tossed around

That is the gutter it's so profound

Those are days we don't want to recall

The use of it should make our skin crawl

May the shooting be replaced by peace

And may the killing and wounding cease

The dead alas can feel no more pain

Now the suffering is for those who remain

Violent night oh violent days 

Why cant we stop this awful malaise

The Rahara Rose © Tony Fallon Jan318

 The Rahara Rose © Tony Fallon Jan318

I cry because it's over and you are here no more

This place will never mean as much as it did before

Yet when I have cried enough I often have to smile

I think how lucky I was to have you for a while

No more we'll roam the valleys or climb a hilly peak

No more we'll go to Mayo and climb St Patrick's reek

No more we will walk the streets of Boyle or Castlerea

No more we'll swim in the chilly waters of Lough Key

When I met you again in New York I felt so blessed

And our love for each other very quickly progressed

You were a happy worker I often sent flowers

To my true love working in the ill fated towers

I never visited you I am fearful of heights

You said from your window you saw impressive sights

That you should be taken from us is hard to perceive

On your first day back to work from maternity leave

Farewell my Rahara Rose until we meet again

Your memory will stay until I am old and then,

You will take my hand one night and call so soft to me

Like swans we’ll fly together to beautiful Lough Ree

Often Sal comes in the room as my eyes I'm drying

And in a sad, sad voice asks Daddy were you crying?

How long more can I lie and tell her it is pollen 

This replica of you, the young Miss Sally Fallon.

Farewell my Rahara Rose until we meet again

Your memory will stay until I am old and then,

You will take my hand one night and call so soft to me

Two children of Lir forever swimming on Lough Ree.