Thursday, February 28, 2008

"ALL SOULS NIGHT"

T’was “All Souls Night in Limerick City long ago
When Franklin and myself, decided where we’d go
As Catholics, we would visit all the churches we could find
Say a prayer in all of them, for the souls we had in mind
As the evening passed to night, St. Mary’s our last Church
We said some extra prayers, leaving no one in the lurch

We walked on out to Corbally, from there we’d turn back home
Knowing we had done our bit, for the souls that were forlorn
Beyond ‘Dago O’Driscolls, so well famous for the jar
We stopped at Corbally Bridge, happy we had walked this far
The road back to town, was well lit at for all to see
But halfway over the bridge all lights ceased to be

Just then we heard a baby’s cry, from under the bridge it felt
We both jumped down the steps to offer the baby our help
The crying stopped, we looked around and silence met our ears
So back we climbed to the bridge, in each of us a little fear
I looked across the span, saw a man walking in alone
Franklin saw him too, just then the baby’s moan

We hit the steps again, running faster this time
The moaning stopped, so did we, then began our second climb
A look across the bridge, the man had left no trace
He didn’t pass; he didn’t go back, just disappeared in space
The moaning came and away we ran, all aglow with fright
With a memory, we have rarely told about our “All Souls Night

Michael Christopher Daly
Sept 10th, 2005