GrowingupinRahara©2022TonyFallon1120

 GrowingupinRahara©2022TonyFallon1120

We walked the same fields each week to Sunday mass

As we did the other five days to national class

There also was a half mile of sandy holey road

beside where the little Carrowkeel river flowed

We had no large size mountains or high terrain

And we have so few hills it's almost like a plain

Even what we call high places are mostly flat

That's why in British days there wasn't much combat

You'd need to travel to Athlone to hear of clashes

Unless you count Knockcroghery being burned to ashes

Other places bragged about how they were long ago shelled

Or how in Limerick City the redcoats were repelled

Cannon Balls were fired by a tyrant named Cromwell

At our church in the graveyard near St Bridgids well

But only one wall of that old church ever fell

If there is any justice at all he still burns in hell

We had a radio and Paddy Beades sang on vinyl

And the juniors never got to the county final

It is many a concert I fondly now recall

On Rahara road near granny's in Ned Miley's hall

In Ballagh we had handball and pitch and toss

And lost good balls in the furze and moss

While the footballers tried to hone their catching

And show their ability to score when attacking

It's funny I only remember the sun and not the shower

And a car might only go bye once in an hour

Sundays we'd all pile into Eamon Beatties Lorry

And head off for miles in search of football glory

we often caught pike in Funshinagh and Ballyglass

Funny the blacksmith had no horse only an ass

None of us were rich so I guess we were deprived

Yet all those years later a good few of us survive

PacemakerC2o22TonyFallon 1010

 PacemakerC2o22TonyFallon 1010

When I woke up one Monday, I did not feel inspired

I had not slept soundly all night and I still felt tired

Compared with previous days I did not feel my best

Before very long I had a tightness in my chest

A few hours later I was on the doctor's table

And he was telling me that my heart was unstable

He said his conclusion I was getting some chest pains

Was because I had some cholesterol in my veins

He wanted to open me and inspect my ticker

That without some new valves I would be getting sicker

He said it's not a very risky operation

And by far better than ten years of medication

They said they'd have to put replacements in one section

I said not to mess with the part that has affection

You know sometimes I am testy sometimes I am tense

You know so far l have never kept you in suspense

Yet I do not feel the same since they worked on my chest

I worry about my health, and I am sometimes stressed

If I said love as much I think I'd be a faker

I think my heart had more love than this new pacemaker

GirlsGirlsGirls©2022TonyFallon1018

 GirlsGirlsGirls©2022TonyFallon1018

I have sailed many oceans and flown many blue skies

I have seen many moons set and watched the red sun rise

I have seen many pretty girls and had been pursued

But after years of travel, I had not been harpooned

I've escorted sexy girls in many foreign lands

I have danced with sexy girls to many foreign bands

I have exchanged smiles and winks in many foreign bars

And gone on short coastline trips in convertible cars

I had Poles Aussie's and Russians who begged me to stay

And there was a Cuban bombshell visiting Bombay

A lovely sight is an Indian in a Sari

And it pays to have pictures when on a Safari

I don't speak many foreign tongues, but songs filled the void

In foreign lands Elvis love songs are always enjoyed

Yet it's hard on a date when you need a translator

In a restaurant they may have a foreign waiter

After all my travelling I had longed to return

And look up the whereabouts of one Kathy O'Beirne

To join up with her I would not need much persuasion

She claimed she was afraid I would marry an Asian

I was a bit worried she night have felt forsaken

Or taken up with that little brat Jim O'Hagen

He will inherit a big farm that was fully stocked

When she said she wanted to marry me I was shocked

From all my world wild travel I have not one regret

I do not own much worthy goods but I have no debt

I don't have savings to buy her anything gaudy

Maybe enough for a good used ten-year-old Audi

In my roaming days I developed no addictions

Never broke any law so I have no convictions

Her parents both said I'm welcome in their humble home

Maybe I will get to work and write a travel tome

Sometimes the right thing for you is hiding in plain sight

And then fulfilment comes in the middle of the night

So, after years of foreign adventure and intrigue

I find true love in Rahara right outside Athleague

inflation22022TonyFallon1002

 inflation22022TonyFallon1002

There's one word we hate all across the nation

I'ts on every body lips the cursed word inflation

Many times the shelves are bare of supplies

But when they come back the prices seem to rise

It used to be a dollar for my breakfast glazed

Yesterday it was up to two I really was amazed

Each week we get shocked when we go to the mart

And walk out an hour later with half a shopping cart

You have to pay more for oranges spuds and figs

And bacon is so expensive it would pay to raise pigs

Because of rising prices less eggs and sausages are frying

There's loads of ice-cream left because people are not buying

Some families are not buying steaks just ingredients for stew

Yet I notice most carts have at least one six pack of brew

How are we going to survive people worry and fret?

Some are paying for food with credit cards increasing debt

There was only supposed to be one raise at the pump

Some people blame Biden and wish they still had Trump

In coming months people will walk not use the automobile

And in the resteraunts no more happy meal

The charges are much more at the electric meter

The middle class will go broke buying oil for the heater

If you think the prices are coming down you are out of luck

Even the dollar stores added a quarter on to the buck

For us old folks on fixed incomes this is truly insane 

But do those in power listen as we loudly complain

FamineShips2022TonyFallon116

 FamineShips2022TonyFallon116

In the dark eighteen forties Ireland was England's breadbasket

That time dead thrown in mass graves without coffin or casket

While ships sailed out loaded with meat and Irish grown grain

While sons of the rich were being educated in France or Spain

it was not the failing potatoes brought total ruination

but the result of land taken from natives during plantation

Overworked fields did not provide an adequate harvest

So food was often scarce in winter when weather was harshest

The potatoes crop rotting in the ground meant certain starvation

meanwhile clergy preached after suffering  there would be salvation

with the passing generations holdings got smaller and smaller

Indoor animals only added to the unhealthy squalor

Those behind on rent were evicted on the orders of the squire

Cattle were more profitable so the house was set on fire

Thrown out on the open windy road to face certain doom

With no money in their pockets to buy food to consume

Reduced to begging for some pennies from heartless bosses

To die in the fields and ditches without benefit of crosses

The living trying to get overseas with their last few pounds

Leaving their families and loved ones in villages and towns

Immigrants boarded rotting ships which very well might wreck

Long before they safely reached the ports of Boston or Quebec

Corpses thrown overboard without any slowing motion

To become food for trailing sharks in the Atlantic Ocean

Then be treated like they were either a criminal or a spy

With signs in the windows saying No Irish people need Apply

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 Ree

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 were many 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.

YelowBus©2022TonyFallon0831

 YelowBus©2022TonyFallon0831

They got on the Yellow bus 

And you know I was sad

That's not for children

But it is for granddad

It's not like sixty years ago

When it was us was sad

They'll get food at school 

They have a new iPad

At every stop this morning

Were parents who were sad

Parting with their babies

Missing their lass or lad.

They all start as equals

So innocent and pure

I hope they eliminate war

Or find a magic cure