Louisburgh in County Mayo-Poem by Sean T. Morahan
Sean T. Morahan
‘Mid sadness of fond recollections tonight,
A yearning possess my soul
To end the hard struggle and thirty years’ flight
For fame on Los Angeles’ roll.
In exile I pine for my loved native Isle,
And my thoughts get full rein as they go
To scenes that were dearest when Heaven did smile
On Louisburgh in County Mayo.
I see the dear faces I loved as a lad,
And long to be with them once more:
A sweet, gentle mother, a kind loving dad:
May God bless them both o’er and o’er.
And oh! For the friends that I knew long ago,
The truest and dearest on earth!
I’d love to be with them tonight in Mayo,
In Louisburgh, the place of my birth.
Dear home of my childhood, I see you again,
In fancy I visit once more
Your four crossed-shaped streets and the square with its crane,
Close hugging Clew Bay’s genial shore.
At eve I gaze down from the heights round the town,
While smoke wisps from chimneys below,
Wave toilers back homeward to tea golden-brown,
In Louisburgh in County Mayo.
I cherish the memories of days so long fled,
Recalling again ‘mid my woes,
In grandeur and glory majestic Old Head-
It’s beauty a heaven’s repose,
Bunowen, too, a picture from Nature’s own hand,
I fondly salute Fairy Hill;
Then, over the river to Carramore Strand,
And here fancy travels at will.
As mem’ries crowd on me, I pause to recall
The ever-unfading joys here-
The great parish races I loved above all;
For each one I now shed a tear.
O day of all days for the young and the old,
Who knew neither gentle nor low!
When sport was the glory and honour the gold
In Louisburgh in County Mayo.
Through Askelane, Emlagh, Roonagh and Polgloss,
By Accony’s clustered array:
The Dooaghs, Carrowniskey, by Roonith and Cross,
By Devlin, Bunlach and its bay:
I hail Thallabawn, famed in story and song,
Then Gowlan, and rest in Aillemore,
And whisper a prayer for the great buried throng
In Killeen, Gods own sacred store.
To Feenone and Cloonty I give a fond nod,
To Crickeen and Altore a bow,
And smile on the Creggans where oft times I trod-
Ah, would I were really there now!
Through Tully, Falduff, Ballyhip and the Shraughs,
By Moneen to gaze on the Reek:
Then over to the hallowed Kilgeever where lies
God’s acre, deserted and bleak,
I enter the graveyard and bend at the Well:
It boils, bringing joy to my soul;
I pray for the dead lying each in his cell;
Awaiting the Great Judge’s roll.
In spirit I offer a station alone,
To Heaven my earnest prayers flow
For life once again ‘mid the friends I have known
In Louisburgh in County Mayo.
‘Mid sadness of fond recollections tonight,
A yearning possess my soul,
To end the hard struggle and thirty years’ fight
For fame on Los Angeles’ roll.
No longer I’ll pine for my loved native Isle-
Tomorrow I’ll leave here and go
To Ireland, my sireland, and Heaven will smile
On Louisburgh in County Mayo!
Comments about this page
Mr John T. Morahan taught me at Louisburgh Boys’ National School up to seventh grade, and no finer teacher could anyone wish for than Mr Morahan.
I often think of him and the values he taught and reinforced. He was a brilliant man and a gentleman to his finger-tips. Mr Morahan did not buy into the belief that Shakespeare was for the secondary school students only. He taught us Macbeth in the sixth grade and Goldsmith’s “Deserted Village” in the seventh grade, and to this very day, I can still see him standing by the fireplace in the “senior” room delivering the soliloquy from Macbeth: ”Is this a dagger…?”
My mother, Mrs Hannon, taught at that same school with Mr Morahan for many, many years and together they worked as a team. May they both find peace now.
My grandfather wrote that poem…Sean Thomas Morahan. Thanks for putting it up.
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