20/09/2022
Memories of Childhood.
We had neighbours one time,
That lived under the hill.
In my prayers I remember,
And think of them still.
And sometimes i think, it was just yesterday.
But it fact it is really,
A lifetime away.
Two brothers, two sisters,
A dog and a cat,
There was Katherine and Celia,
And Tomas and Pat.
All single, unmarried,
Their name is long gone.
And its sad there was no one,
To carry it on.
The sisters kept house,
It was neat as a pin.
And a welcome was there,
For whoever went in.
The brothers they worked,
On the farm every day.
And at nightime together,
They knelt down to pray.
While auld Ringo the dog,
By the fire lay quiet.
Where himself and the cat,
Settled in for the night.
Now pat could play music,
And Tomas could sing.
At parties in old times
Great joy they did bring.
Celia sang also, and Kate
In her chair,
Read stories for children,
From kitty the hare.
Old customs, old fashioned,
Indeed this was true.
And the ways of today's world,
These folk never knew.
No modern components, back then
In the day,
Their work was all done in the old fashioned way.
And I can remember when nightime would fall,
Their light it then came, from a lamp
On the wall.
With the turf from the bog on an
open hearth fire,
All the cooking was done, that your
heart would desire.
And a fine soda cake, it was baked as a rule,
And left on the window sill, outside to cool.
To see this house now, it would make
Your heart sore,
For the weeds and the briars grow up
through the floor.
No windows or doors, and the roof has
Caved in,
Never more to be lived in, in this life again.
A fine happy home, one time back in the day.
Taken over by time, as the years passed away.
God be good to them now,
There all gone to their rest,
To the place that the good lord
Reserves for the best.
But my memories of childhood, sometimes
let me see,
The old ways of life, that one time used to be.
And sometimes I think back,
And remember them still,
Our auld neighbours one time,
That lived under the hill.
Martin O'Hara © 12/9/2022
