The story is told that an agent was slain
\nBy a tenant called Delaney who on the run did die
\nIn caves upon Sliabh Blooms wild hills
\nMany many years gone by.
\nFor sustenance he came down the hill
\nTo his house, outside a window he eat till he was full
\nAnd should the Yeomanry or Constabulary be seen
\nTo him was thrown a ball of wool.
\nAnd after his day by his family it was said
\nThat window would be left be
\nWhatever was changes, the window remained
\nAs through it the signal was given to flee.
\nAnd all was well for many years
\nAnd a new woman in the house she came
\nWas for changing this and altering that
\nAs women leave little the same!!!<\/p>\n
PART II<\/p>\n
But the word was given, that all can change
\nAs the lady’s heart it did desire
\nBut permission to alter this window was denied
\nThis her husband did deny her.
\nAnd his world by her was kept
\nBy a wife skeptical of the superstitions of her man
\nAnd bay slowly kept the years
\nOnce more ask to change it she began.
\nAnd once more yet again she was denied
\nAnd she thought it a great shame
\nA door to a to the back garden great there would look
\nThe window would be broken out to make the frame
\nAnd as women do she persisted
\nOver the years: not to be denied was she
\nUntil her man having put up the good fight
\nGave in and did to alterations agree.<\/p>\n
PART III<\/p>\n
A few nights later while in the pub
\nAll was quiet outside in the dark
\nChildren asleep upstairs in bed
\nNot even the family dog did bark.
\nAnd watching the telly was the housewife
\nWaiting for the homecoming of her man
\nFrom a night playing cards in the local pub:
\nWhen a hammering on the walls began!!!
\nGreat thuds and crashed vibrated the back wall
\nFor five to ten seconds at least
\nAnd startled the woman she jumped from her chair
\nThinking that broken from a field had a beast.
\nFor the fence to the field was not good
\nAnd in it was farily wild cattle
\nAnd all beasts see a fence as something to get through
\nAnd she assumed one of these made the walls rattle<\/p>\n
PART IV<\/p>\n
Oh but no, when to the garden she got
\nShe found no cattle there
\nAnd she was fleet on foot and quick
\nWhen she race outside from her chair.
\nAnd puzzled to her house she went again
\nAnd of it thought nothing
\nAnd went back to watching the TV
\nAnd the incident was forgotten
\nOn telling her husband when he got home
\nUnperturbed, the fields and fence he said he’d check out
\nHe found all was as it should be
\nAs through his yard and garden he went about.
\nSmiling if half jest to his wife
\nLeave the window be, he said
\nDelaney’s not happy I agreed to your change
\nIts not good to anger the dead.<\/p>\n
PART V<\/p>\n
And the following night the same thing happened
\nA series of thumps on the wall
\nA message from the dead by some it is said
\nThat they to the living do call.
\nSo she said shed leave it a while
\nA year or so at least
\nShe was not as skeptical of superstitions as before
\nAnd the strange knocks on the wall, they ceased.
\nToday telling the tale she’s embarrassed
\nThe window to a door in time they did change
\nAnd their are no reports (or she wont admit!!!)
\nOf anymore knocks so strange.
\nWhose to say it was not the spirit of Delaney
\nAngered at the windows change that was his life line before he did die
\nWhen throw through it was a ball of wool
\nWarning the constabulary was coming for the killing of the agent Ely…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The story is told that an agent was slain By a tenant called Delaney who on the run did die In caves upon Sliabh Blooms wild hills Many many years gone by. For sustenance he came down the hill To his house, outside a window he eat till he was …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,256],"tags":[1609,1612,78,2345,1607,1608,1611,1610,801],"class_list":["post-1409","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-family-stories","category-irish-heritage","tag-ballaghmore","tag-ely","tag-ghost-story","tag-ireland","tag-land-wars","tag-laois","tag-poltergeist","tag-puca","tag-spirit","column","twocol"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7EI4f-mJ","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1122,"url":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/morocco-through-a-window\/","url_meta":{"origin":1409,"position":0},"title":"Morocco Through a Window","author":"Tom\u00e1s \u00d3 C\u00e1rthaigh","date":"15th November 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"A thousand colours, little green These hills, where the Berber rode After him the Arab on steed Then French and Spanish on this road That I, traveller, I pay to tour As thousands did before me Thousands after will do the same Just another place for us to be. Another\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "On the Berber Trail"","block_context":{"text":"On the Berber Trail","link":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/category\/travel-poems\/on-the-berber-trail\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Morocco seen through a bus window...","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Morocco-Through-a-Window.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Morocco-Through-a-Window.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Morocco-Through-a-Window.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Morocco-Through-a-Window.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Morocco-Through-a-Window.jpg?resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1731,"url":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/from-corn-hill-his-spirit-watches\/","url_meta":{"origin":1409,"position":1},"title":"From Corn Hill His Spirit Watches","author":"Tom\u00e1s \u00d3 C\u00e1rthaigh","date":"20th May 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The latest of the restored poems to the website, from a couple of years back Upon that hilltop he does sleep His spirit on all below does keep Watchful eye on cattle men and sheep Where the Black Pig its Dyke deep ploughed. From there in the dark and distant\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Irish Legend"","block_context":{"text":"Irish Legend","link":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/category\/ireland\/irish-legend\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Cairn Hill and Edenmore Hill in Longford","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/Cairn-Hill-and-Edenmore-Hill-in-Longford.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/Cairn-Hill-and-Edenmore-Hill-in-Longford.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/Cairn-Hill-and-Edenmore-Hill-in-Longford.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/Cairn-Hill-and-Edenmore-Hill-in-Longford.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/Cairn-Hill-and-Edenmore-Hill-in-Longford.jpg?resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1645,"url":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/summits-reached-before-depths\/","url_meta":{"origin":1409,"position":2},"title":"Summits Reached Before Depths","author":"Tom\u00e1s \u00d3 C\u00e1rthaigh","date":"19th April 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"I climbed Cairn Hills summit step by step On a day when all was well The depths to which I was about to sink Fate had in store I could not tell The sun shone bright: a summers day How could I foresee That fire and fate so would conspire\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Walking Verses"","block_context":{"text":"Walking Verses","link":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/category\/travel\/walking-verses\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":927,"url":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/the-banshee\/","url_meta":{"origin":1409,"position":3},"title":"The Banshee","author":"Tom\u00e1s \u00d3 C\u00e1rthaigh","date":"25th October 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I hear the cries of sorrow in the cold night air I know not if they come for here ! or there? And the more I listen, the less I hear As fast my heart beats with blood-draining fear! I see a figure in the moonlight pale Of a woman:\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Irish Legend"","block_context":{"text":"Irish Legend","link":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/category\/ireland\/irish-legend\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Bean Sidhe","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/Bean-Sidhe.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3682,"url":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/hilltops-adorned-by-man\/","url_meta":{"origin":1409,"position":4},"title":"Hilltops Adorned By Man","author":"Tom\u00e1s \u00d3 C\u00e1rthaigh","date":"21st April 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Cairns of stone, for our dead Hilltops adorned Prayed to and turned to Communicate with the spirits Crosses of stone and iron, for our dying Hilltops adorned Climbed upon, prayed upon Communicate with our saints. Masts of Iron, for our living Hilltops adorned Beaming signals, making power Communicate with the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Environment"","block_context":{"text":"Environment","link":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/category\/environment\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Today, along with the cairn said to be a giants grave or a chieftans according to which legend you hear, this once sacred hill is home to a reflector mast. Notably there never was a crucifix put on top of this hill as there was on a lot of others.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Cairn-Hill-in-Longford.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Cairn-Hill-in-Longford.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Cairn-Hill-in-Longford.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Cairn-Hill-in-Longford.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Cairn-Hill-in-Longford.jpg?resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1424,"url":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/skopje-at-night\/","url_meta":{"origin":1409,"position":5},"title":"Skopje At Night","author":"Tom\u00e1s \u00d3 C\u00e1rthaigh","date":"28th January 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"The ladies are very friendly In the carpark outside the hotel If your interested and have money For you all will be well... I say no, ladies, not this time! I wave, walk past with a smile A trucker stops and whistles The girl to him goes for a while.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Balkan Odyssey"","block_context":{"text":"Balkan Odyssey","link":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/category\/travel-poems\/balkan-odyssey\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Skopje city at night","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Skopje_at_Night.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Skopje_at_Night.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.writingsinrhyme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Skopje_at_Night.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1409","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1409"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1409\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1410,"href":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1409\/revisions\/1410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1409"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/writingsinrhyme.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}