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March 2002

Spotlight: Ireland

Tricolor Nights
by Ruth Mark

Ireland's Many Graces: A Photojournal
by Ellen Kamilakis

March 2002—Spotlight: Ireland

Tricolor Nights
by Ruth Mark

Fiddle, uillean pipes, lilting
Strong, Irish brogue
Rouses patriotic fervor
In the assembled suppers
Out for a night o' craic
A pint or two o' the old black stuff
Froth mustaches glistening
Bobbing in tune as the oul man
Reminisces 'bout bygone days
Rogue landlords, the awful gnawing
At the insides, the hunger a constant companion
Then, but not tonight.
Guinness, Murphy's
Amber Jameson's flows like a river
And the songs get more feverish
Boots tap out the rhythm
On the sticky wooden floor
The whole place alive, the very walls move
In time. Sure it would do yer heart good
Feeling proud to be Irish
Ancient songs pulling men and centuries together
The clock's hands stop and still the storyteller
Carries on, with tales of the Children of Lir
Deirdre, Finn McCool, ancient
Warlords, the Kings o' Tara
And 'course back to the bad ole days
When Famine grabbed its claws
And robbed the country of its young,
Old, strong men, women all gone
To disease, starvation or escape
Distant lands scorning the 'barbarian' Irish.
Inevitably, the rebel cry goes up
And 'glory days' come flooding through
The chat. Pearse, Connolly, Parnell
Fighting for Home Rule
All gone, blood spilt for them all.
The songs become more forlorn
Ballads, stuff to make ye cry
Into yer drink, before slopping off
Home, sleep descending like a heavy
Hammer. Just another night
In an Irish pub.

Ruth Mark is a freelance writer and editor. She is also the content manager of an Irish website:
Irish Tips: www.Irish-tips.com [everything you ever wanted to know about Ireland and then some!]
and hosts an Irish forum: http://forums.delphiforums.com/lt_irish/start