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.