(Claddagh Fish Market Galway drawing used by permission of artist, Sue Bryan.  You may visit Sue here.)

THE GHOST OF THE GALWAY CITY MUSEUM

NOW THIS GALWAY MUSEUM… WELL WE WENT THERE TO SEE ‘EM, EARLY ON THIS MORN

FOR SOME HISTORY AND NEWS AND THEIR VERY SPECIAL VIEWS, OF HOW THIS COUNTRY WAS BORN

BUT THO’ MOST OF THIS STORY HAS LITTLE GLORY (IN THE BEGINNING) IT DOES HAVE SOME AT THE END

‘CAUSE THE TIME OF GREAT GRIEF, HAS NOW FOUND RELIEF,AND THIS FINE COUNTRY HAS ROUNDED THE BEND

AS I SAT THERE IN JURYS HOTEL, LOOKING OUT OVER THE BAY

I HAD THIS STRANGE FEELING, LIKE ICE DROPPED FROM THE CEILING…QUITE TOOK MY BREATH AWAY

AND THEN….I FELT …A ‘SPIRIT’ WAS TALKING TO ME, AS I LOOKED ‘CROSS THE BAY TO THE SEA

AND IT SAID THAT AT LAST, HE’D COME BACK FROM THE PAST, AND WAS TELLING THIS STORY TO ME

HE SAID “‘TWAS DURING THE FAMINE, WHEN EVEN THE SALMON, SEEMED THE RIVER CORRIB TO LEAVE”

“AND OTHER FISH IN THE BAY, THEY TOO SHIED AWAY, I KNOW THAT IT’S HARD TO BELIEVE

”TWAS A TERRIBLE TIME AND AN UNFORGIVEABLE CRIME, WHEN SO MANY NEEDLESSY DIED FROM STARVATION”

HIS FAMILY AND FRIENDS, HAD COME NEAR TO THEIR ENDS, IT WAS ALMOST THE DEATH OF A NATION

SO HE AND HIS BROTHERS, SISTERS AND OTHERS, WERE FORCED TO LEAVE IRELAND, IF THEY WISHED TO LIVE

START UP NEW LIVES, FIND NEW HUSBANDS AND WIVES, GIVE NEW COUNTRIES ALL THEY COULD GIVE

SO MANY CRIED, FOR THE TENS OF THOUSANDS THAT DIED, AND THE MILLIONS WHO FLED FROM THE PAIN

WE SHOULD NOW...EVERY DAY, KNEEL DOWN AND PRAY, THAT THIS NEVER HAPPENS AGAIN

THERE WAS NOTHING FOR THE ‘PEOPLE’ TO EAT, CLOTHE THEIR BACKS OR COVER THEIR FEET

SO SHIPS SAILS WERE UNFURLED AND THEY SAILED ‘CROSS THE WORLD, MANY NEVER AGAIN WERE TO MEET

BUT ‘HE’ PROMISED THAT HE WOULD, RETURN IF HE COULD, TRYING NEVER WOULD CEASE

TO CLAIM THE DEAR SOIL, WHERE HE COULD THEN TOIL, TO THE END OF HIS DAYS IN SOME PEACE

BUT OUT THERE IN THE WILD, HE, INDIAN WIFE AND CHILD, DIED IN A TERRIBLE FIGHT

AND HIS DREAMS OF RETURNING, IN HIS HEART STILL BURNING, WERE SNUFFED OUT…LIKE A LIGHT

SO…HE CAME BACK WITH ME, FROM FAR ‘CROSS THE SEA, NOW HIS SPIRIT CAN FINALLY REST

HE’S BEEN GOOD AND BAD; HE’S BEEN GLAD AND SAD…NOW HE’S BACK WITH THE BEST

AND WITH PEACE SOUTH AND NORTH, FROM THIS TIME FORTH, AND A FUTURE MOST WONDROUS TO BEHOLD

WHEN PEOPLE SO BRAVE, HAVE LEARNED TO BEHAVE, FOR THE GOOD OF THE MEEK AND THE BOLD

NOW…HE’LL STAY IN THE MUSEUM AND THO’ YOU’LL NEVER SEE HIM, YOU’LL KNOW HE’S THERE AS YOU WALK BY’

WHEN A RUSH OF COOL AIR, RUSTLES YOUR HAIR…OR BY A FAINT BARELY AUDIBLE SIGH

See also the companion poem “The Ghost Of The Waterford County Museum

Located in my home town of Dungarvan County Waterford Ireland

This was ‘experienced’ (and written) by Kevin and Nancy Dalton while visiting Ireland on vacation < November 1999

The story ‘came to us’ after visiting the Museum.

It was written in Jury’s Hotel, (room 106) which is across the Old Market Square from the  old Museum

Nancy says she feels that “Rory” is the name of the “Spirit”

© Copyright 1999 by Kevin and Nancy Dalton, Trumbull, Connecticut, U S A