Recollections of an Irish Childhood 8

22 November 1963

Friday evening , that time when
Tea was out and father was in
And the coal cracked
and ash wood spat and steamed
And the flames caught my eye
as they danced
in the hearth of that living room in Derry

The valve radio muttered
mysteriously in the corner
Brown and brooding
and beaming news over the air waves

I looked once inside
its sinister side
hiding valves
humming and hawing
not quite tuned

It snatched the news
and spat it out
“ The President has been shot “

I adjusted the woggle of my scarf
I eyed the time
Time for Scouts
shoes polished
hair combed
Shirt pressed

and I dream of long shadowed horses
and a gun-carriaged hearse
and a widow and sons
black and bowed
on a bright Washington winter morn
when the world changed forever

Recollections of an Irish Childhood

click on title above to hear recording

Thoughts from the farmyard in rural Ireland (late 1960s)

The burn would run all night and morning
Gurgling seductively outside my bedroom window
Golden brown and bubbling over the peat-moss moors
Sounds of scratching fowls and swishing cows
Cud-chewing to the milking parlour

A sow scraped and screamed at the runt of the litter
And I with one eye opened, feel the gentle Derry air
Lift the lace curtain and blow in a ‘good morning’
With its sickly smell of sweet manure
And fresh squeezed milk from bloated udder

A clang of creamery cans
A ‘get-out-of-here’ cry to cats
That craved fresh cream
And I awake on my uncle’s farm
Oh sweet, sweet memory

Recollections of an Irish Childhood 3

Thoughts from the woods in rural Ireland (Summer 1964)

There is a green glade where ponies graze
Where late evening sun lies down the bluebells
There is a pool only some of us knew
A dark, dark pool where I used to gaze

Down, down to its muddied edge
and stop and stoop
On well-worn stone

And scoop deep, deep waters
And watch squint-eyed as spiders skim across its mirrored face
And just beside this quiet water child,

Mother River, bosom-brown sits
Her silent flow broken only
By the flip, flop, drop of hungry trout
Casting an eye for the dead-lazy fly.

A startled blackbird screams
Through the undergrowth
And I awake.

First Chinese E-Mail

Isn't learning a wonderful thing, having just turned 55 ,
I have sent and received my first e-mail in Chinese script (Hanyu)

你好, 最进还好吗?
先在我的汉语不太好
墨文

墨文
你好，我 最近很忙。你呢？
你的汉语有进步，继续努力。 祝好
林美婵

After clouds come blue skies
After confusion comes clarity
After learning comes aaah, um, err..more learning

Dedicated to the guys at the Red Lion Pub and restaurant
Bradenham Village , Bucks HP14 4HF Tel: 01494 562212

" A lighthouse of calm in a sea of troubles"

Wycombe Woods (Friday 11 July late evening)

I walk the Wycombe hills
At close of day
As night draws near
its curtain of darkness cross vales of green
Crouching cottages leaking light and life
silent stables standing

And I pass by

spectral sheep stop and stare
and startled animals scurry there
untidily like a fleeting thought in my mind

I just cant catch it

Black cows head bowed
dark thoughts unmowed
and tree and bush and here close in

walk faster, faster, faster
Light, life and longing
to be there

Towards £2000

谢谢你 xièxie nĭ

A big THANK YOU to Roy Page, Linda Whalley and the boys of the Royal Grammar School - also Father Willie and the parishioners of St Augustine's RC Church for taking the total towards £2000.

All funds are due in by the end of July, so if you have pledged monies please donate now at www.justgiving.com/mervyncooke

Kind regards
Mervyn

See you at the karate display Sat 12 July 1.30pm St Augustine's RC School Fayre, Daws Hill Lane, High Wycombe