ALONG THE COAST OF DONEGAL BAY
By Veronica Breen Hogle
Dearest Mother,
It was two years ago today
A sunny Saturday in May
In sweet Ardaghy
Along the coast of Donegal Bay
With heavy hearts
We tucked you in beneath the clay
It was there on the west coast of Ireland
You spent so many happy days and nights
With rain and wind against your face
You often said,
"Oh, how I love to be in this isolated place"
To walk barefoot in the cold smooth sand
Gather sea shells and rake seaweed
And watch men unload shiny fish from trawlers
That swayed on wavy waters
Then home you came
To pan-fry silver herrings for tea
And the whole house
filled up with the smell of the sea
I often picture you
in that rugged place
nestled in a bird-noisy cliff
with a Panoramic view
of mountains decked out
in cloaks of purple heather
Where twice a day the
Atlantic ocean comes and goes
Above you seagulls wheel and scream
and falcons soar and glide
towards the sea
From a continent away
My mind's eye sees
Your smiling face in
The glinting cliffs, blue-gray clouds
A summer breeze
the lapping sea
In the place you most loved to be
But oh, dearest mother
Without you
Life is not the same
I miss your newsy letters in the mail
Still I live on
and accept that you have gone
To your reward
For the 90 years which
you lived so well
It's a comfort to me
that you sleep peacefully
in your eternal rest
in the place that you loved best
Sweet Ardaghy by the sea.
- end-