'Ireland' -- A Poem by Fran Reddy

Your beauty has beguiled it seems,

Of mountainside patchwork fields I dream

Moody sky with clouds dark-clad

Give way to sun that warms hearts glad

Blooming pathways, hidden charm

The windswept way to hillside farm

Painted sheep dot sweeping hill

Listen to the swallows trill

Cattle graze amongst the green

Stop in place, the sight serene

Greens that gently touch the sea

Broken castles, history

 Locals seeming unaware

Accustomed to the grandeur there

Of hills majestic, rivers clear

The oceans wave, the heaven near

Taking, as it was, for granted

The glorious heaven God had planted

Pints are shared, friends in making

Songs and smiles, cares forsaking

Telling tales of ages passed

Reminisce, the spell is cast

In sleepy summer solstice long

I listened to the siren song

As magically she called from me

All vestige of my sanity

Every corner turned, my duty

Headlong into yet more beauty

Endless sky to endless sea

I lost myself and willingly

Misty rain on slopes of grey

I reveled in its gentle way

Feeling not the windy chills

My eyes, through tears, caressed the hills

Oh this place, so boldy swept

the soul from me, my heart it leapt

Golden valley before me sleeping 

Stirring soul within me, weeping

My life shall never be the same

Since Erin set my heart aflame

And stole my sense, with all good haste

Did wrest my soul and laid it waste

To long for Ireland evermore

Her sea and sky, sweet love and lore.

She’ll whisper me her lilting score

Until I tread her fields once more

 -- Fran Reddy