Turning the Big One Hundred – A North Longfordman Remembered
Dad would have been 100 if alive today. While he always said his date of birth was the 22nd as the “all …
Memories of Grandmother at Drumnahara
The shaking hands that set the plate Of ice cream and jelly that vibrate With an old woman’s smile under curled hair …
The Ambush at Clonfin
Man for man, and gun for gun, Mere peasants stood to the test, With faith in God and their fellow man, They …
Reading a take on memory from a fellow North Longford writer
John Connell is from outside my families home village of Ballinalee. Author of “The Cow Book” – which was given a different …
Let Death Not Sneak In Our Door
In the days gone by during the War On the family farm in old Lislea My mother but a child she was …
Gurteen Lake and the Curse of the McCarthys
Verse from another legend from Longford recorded by the Irish Folklore Commission From Clonbroney the priest was travelling Was making his weary …
No Dancing Sun This Easter Morning
No dancing sun the Easter morning As the birds sing in the sky I sleepy look out at the dawn As the …
Saintjohnstown – So Beautiful A Name
My mother grew up outside the Longford village of Ballinalee. She always said she preferred the English name on it, St. Johnstown… …
Wake at Ballinalee
My mother told of attending a wake when a child in her native village Ballinalee, where the pipes that were smoked cermonially …
Distant City, Close Experience
Gaza and Granard, both experienced revenge attacks from insurgents activities, bar Gaza is on a greater scale than anything the Black and …
As They Lay Him Down
As they lay him down… Madiba… Let them not forget, Forgiveness, what he though them, For hatred, now subdued, can yet, Tear …
Old Clonbroney
This is a ghost story told to me by my mother, from her grandparents, either Kiernans Mill or Treacys. The roadway mentioned …
The Hungry Grass
A shiver runs up my spine As stories I recall Of people dead in times gone by I was told of when …
On Boycotting the Sean Mac Eoin Statue Unveiling
I thought of it, attending… The unveiling, the Taoiseachs speech, About a hero we have in common, Who across the divide does …
No More the Hammer Strikes the Anvil
No more the hammer strikes the anvil As the blacksmith discussed the news With the clients from the country As he hammered …
The Long Acre
A trains stopped, a dead cow on the trackway And children crying herding more And I woken from my reverie I enjoyed …