“Go down for the Belfast Telegraph,” she said,
“And a packet of Victory V for your da’s head cold.”
Nightmare Days
Short Stories
Harp that once thru Tara’s halls
The Harp that once through
The soul of music shed
Now hangs as mute on
Gypsy, gypsy,living in a tent
I’ll bet you can put a tune to each of those skipping and street rhymes! I know I can. Many had multiple variations; my memory’s not so good that I can recall them all.
Going Round in Circles
After a sleepless weekend of trepidation it was a relief finally to get to work on Monday morning and to meet this ogre that they all feared.
Workhouse to Hospital
This poem which was passed to us by Martin Toal was written in 1998 by Jim McParland, and was delivered by him at a 50th celebration of the National Health Service.
That celebration was held at the Mourne Country Hotel. Present were a number of people who were employed in the old Workhouse – and some who remained on the staff in that building after its integration into the NHS.
Jim McParland was one such. He wrote the following poem about his memories.
Stuff the turkey
A Visit to Chester
My wife and I visited
Diagonal Steam Trap [2]
Now the engineer eyed the designer
An’ the designer, he looked at ‘The Hat’
An’ they whispered, the one till the other,
‘Diagonal Steam Trap? ………….. What’s that?’
Rachel: 3
The next morning my vehicle pressed its way through the sand-encrusted track that was the main street and there I saw Rachel, just as she had said – sitting with her friends. A smile broke across her dark complexion as she stood up and walked in the direction of my on-coming land cruiser.