Thursday, August 12, 2021

NFHM Post 2021 Issue 3- Those Irish Eyes Were Smiling

 


© John Mayer

Those Irish Eyes were Smiling..


Bridget and Susie were saying farewell, 

heading to far off lands

Though I doubt their parents were smiling

More likely wringing their hands.

Three brothers had already left the farm

A sister, Molly, had followed them there

But John had died in Australia

A heartache they all had to bare.

Boarding the ship was an effort

For Bridget no longer walked  straight 

But Susie was there to help her

And no-one had noticed her gait.

The known port of call  in Auckland

Was where Susie decided to stay

With brother James who’d settled before them

Leaving Bridget to continue her way.

She was greeted by Michael and Molly

But soon it was only just two

For Michael returned to auld Ireland

There was farming he’d been called back to do.

Biddy soon married her sweetheart

A strapping young man called Roy

They went on to have four children

Three girls followed after the boy.

’Tis all a brief story of Dillons

Who lived in the far away county of Clare

How I’d love to visit their homeland

And meet all the family that still abide there.

© Crissouli 10th Aug 2021


Roy & Biddy (Bridget Teresa Dillon) Swadling
Photo of Dillon family home ©John Mayer

8 comments:

  1. Great poem and rhyme. Talented lady

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  2. Yes indeed I would be wringing my hands if my children left for far away lands. I am lucky to have them so close by. What a talent you have dear Chris !

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  3. Thanks for your kind words, Alex. Both of ours have lived overseas, for years at a time...I was happy for them, but your heart aches when they are so far away. I'm so glad they are back now, even if we don't see them a lot.

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  4. It is all too easy to put ourselves in the hearts and minds of their parents. Not so easy to imagine where the sons and daughters got the courage and determination to travel across the globe.

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    1. I guess that with so many in the family and maybe poor crops at the time, it was a way of 'lightening the load' as it were, off their parents. Maybe it was easier knowing for the second and third lot to leave as their siblings were already in Australia and one in New Zealand.
      Thanks for your comment.

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