THE GRAIGUENAMANAGH BUS

THE GRAIGUENAMANAGH BUS

By the late Eileen nee Earls Breen
March 27, 1916 – May 5, 2006

Poem number 9 of 21.
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From Dublin down to lovely Graigue
There are prayers and sighs and weeping
For two employees of CIE ‘neath
Brandon’s shade now sleeping
Oh! deeply do we mourn their loss
These men beloved by us
The driver and conductor of
The Graiguenamanagh bus

O’er twenty years they worked this route
In fair and story weather
Now fate decrees that they should sleep
And take their rest together
They never had an accident
They never wore a frown
With care they helped old ladies up
Or set a school child down

Their passengers would laugh and smoke
And chat of crops and weather
While boxes full of “Day Old Chicks”
Would cheep, cheep together
From open doors folks waved and smiled
And voices called a greeting
To Charlie and to Johnny
From each one that they’d be meeting

They saw our children grow and go
To lands far, far away
They eased sad partings with the words
“We’ll bring ‘em back some day”
Returning exiles loved to see
Their dear and cheery faces
“We never met yer likes,” they’d say
"In all those foreign places.”

The smallest child could ride with them
Without a chaperone
They’d tend it just as carefully
As if it were their own
Our prams and bikes
Were stored away
With care and without fuss
By the driver and conductor
Of the Graiguenamanagh bus

Alas, alas they both fell ill
To hospital were sped
Within three days, the sad news came
Poor Charlie, he was dead

When Johnny followed in a week
The news was hard to bear
No more would Charlie take the wheel
Nor Johnny take the fare

They’ve gone. Just gone before us
And morn and night we’ll pray
For Charlie and for Johnny
As we travel life’s highway
We pray that heaven we’ll safely reach
And there will smile at us
The drive and conductor
Of the Graiguenamanagh bus.
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Note: This poem was published in several
Newspapers and books in Ireland.

P.S. Oh! I remember the fun and joy of bouncing over the hump-backed bridge across the River Barrow and swerving along the narrow roads while I came and went on The Graiguenamanagh Bus. Veronica

Story ID:	2275
Written by:	Veronica Breen Hogle (bio, contact, other stories)
Organization:	Irish Cultural Events
Story type:	Poem
Writers Conference:	$500 2007 Family Memories Writing Project
Location:	Graiguenamanagh Co. Carlow Ireland
Year:	1963
Person:	Charlie Piggot and Johnny Hickey