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.
