when times were tough they were really tough and when there was no one or nothing left to have it fell on whomever was at hand to do all they could just to make life easier there is a contrast between these 2 poems where the need to help out is greater then the need to be caught out ha hope ye like them
christy o donnell
Age to manhood
The sun has not yet risen when he is up out of bed,
Silently he rises he has chores waiting ahead,
The fire must be lit with the sticks that he gathered,
In a house full of children to which none he has fathered,
The table must be set and the porridge put on the gas,
All things in their place for when the get ready for mass,
When this is done he must silently wake the brood,
Feed them their breakfast making sure they are good,
He calls them one by one from out of their sleep,
And slowly half aware down the stairs they creep,
To the kitchen to where the morning meal will be found,
They all know better then to make a single sound,
It’s a morning ritual having become habit as such,
Today is Sunday and they must all attend church,
Weekends were always a bit harder then most days,
When he could wander about at times in his own haze,
But then there was homework to help out with from school,
He had to be cleverer then most he would not be a fool,
Everyone helped out throughout the week,
Even the shy ones and those who were meek,
But Sunday after the Saturday night before,
When loud voices and fights and slamming of door’s,
This was a day when what was left in their wake,
Was best left sleeping for the children’s sake?
He was twelve going on thirteen,
But Sunday was a day where he could always be seen,
The spuds were peeled and the meat in the oven cooking,
When they got up hangover raging no need to be looking,
He’d learned you see there was always a fight,
Over something or other from a Saturday night,
And it went on into Sunday as chores were left undone,
No one else available so he became the one,
So at the ripe old age of thirteen he’d do all that he can,
This is the age he recalls that he became this man,
And as years passed and time just flew,
He still tries to make things easy doing whatever he can do.
05 Aug. 12
The railway stables
Watching an old mare that was ready to foal,
We noticed that the workers on the railway line had a goal,
They were putting two pump houses together for the company,
Working day’s on end to finish them in the sun you see,
They toiled for 3 weeks to get them just right,
Working long hours in the warm sun light,
Having finished they then got them ready for an electric cable,
When the thought struck me they’d make a very fine stable,
So it was decided that on this very night in the dark,
We’d dismantle them and in my backyard them we’d park,
While it took us all night both my friend and I,
If all else failed we would give it a damn good try,
And gone they were the very next morning,
The workmen stood there aghast and yawning,
From out of his bed my friend was pulled by his feet,
Three hefty garda to the courthouse he was given a seat,
Not on your own did you perform this dastardly deed,
Nor could you have done it for greed,
You will be held until your partner in crime here appears,
And if he fails to show I’ll guarantee you’ll be in tears,
So up with my hand from the rear of the court,
I’m here judge it’s myself to you I report,
Then a message was handed to the judge from his Clark,
And having read it all we heard was his bark,
It’s a thirty pound fine and the railway want to know,
The details of the robbery and want ye both their workers show,
Just how 2 young lads’ barley skin and bone,
Can do what ye did with those sheds ye took home,
Ye are sentenced to the company to show exactly how ye did,
Dismantle and transport those sheds that ye hid,
And how in gods name did you both in one night,
Do the work it took 3 men 3 weeks to get right,
So instead of being sent to a borstal or jail,
They paid our fine and we told them our tale,
Then back to the judge who was waiting in court,
The company gave us both a glowing report.
07 Aug. 12
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