Ballinrobe

for Ged Pierse

John Wayne riding flat out for Maureen O’Hara’s bonnet

sure a body’s bound to be a dreamer

John Ford with all his wild nature

paints a moving picture of romantic Ireland

with the fire of an exile’s longing

buried deep down in his heart

but sure a body’s bound to be a dreamer

when all the things he loves are far away

Sean Thornton and Mary Kate Danaher

after all the fightin’ talk

inventing a fairy tale that has endured

but dreams don’t last though dreams are not forgotten

Two hundred and thirty years of racing at Ballinrobe

the west of Ireland as romantic as it can be

but though they pave the footpaths here with gold dust

I still would choose my Isle of Inishfree