We're delighted to present our Poem Of The Day, presented in association with Poetry Ireland

Today's poem is Anne Byrne by Rachel Hegarty - read it below.


There is a holy well near ours.

I will take our youngest there.

His eyes aint the best and some say

there's a cure in Donagh’s Well.

That’s another job on me list.

The list of never-ending things

to do or get done. I want fun,

a different kind of list.

Not the one to fix broken bits

of second-hand furniture,

ditch chipped plates and cups,

or paint – a fresh lick for every room.

I want a day out, not shopping

in town for the needful -–

the girl’s Bay City Rollers knee socks,

or the little lad’s Bionic Man jocks.

No, I want a day by the sea.

We’d take our kids to the secret beach

at the back of Howth Head.

The one with loads of steps down –

granite slabs edged with fern,

ivy, bramble or blackberry bush.

I’d teach them chiselers

how to mosey around nettle stings

or thorny scrawbs from dog roses.

How to catch a fresh breath

of sea air and mind tricky rocks,

wet shale or slippery wet moss.

I want us to take in the view

of the Bailey Lighthouse.

I’d explain its beams of caution

needed on dirty, stormy nights.

I want me family to see the sea,

and the fact of a lighthouse

on a summer day, on a family.