helicopter | Roland's Ragbag

At Beenarourke, County Kerry, Eire … Photo – WHB, 2003

If you ever go across the sea to Eire,
You will love it and be glad that you have been.
I can recommend you travel south to Kerry,
Then you will see the sights that I have seen.

You certainly should try the Ring of Kerry,
Just to watch the sun go down over the sea.
The beauty of its coastline is amazing,
No better in the world you will agree.

You can take a jaunty car out from Killarney,
Visit Muckross House, Ross Castle and Moll’s Gap.
You won’t find better views elsewhere in Ireland
However much you scour an Irish map.

You may even meet a travelling musician
Playing his squeeze box to the listening crowd.
He sings of love with lots of Irish blarney,
With wit he shares his history out loud.

At Beenarourke you’ll find Our Lady watching;
She silently observes the passers-by.
The circling helicopter keeps a lookout,
This Trinity enhance their Irish sky.

As well as ‘pinching’, with only the slightest of alterations, the first line of the well-known Irish song, ‘Galway Bay’, I have composed the verses above in the same form and metre as the well-known Irish song, ‘Galway Bay’. If you know the tune, and should you feel so inclined, you should be able to fit my words to it. To refresh the memory of any who don’t know or remember the original words, I give below the lyrics of the first and last verses . . .

If you ever go across the sea to Ireland,
Then maybe at the closing of your day,
You can sit and watch the moon rise over Claddagh,
And see the sun go down on Galway Bay.

And if there’s gonna be a life here after,
And faith somehow I’m sure there’s gonna be,
I will ask my God to let me make my Heaven,
In that dear land across the Irish sea.