Tayto

______________

for Auntie Pat

Fourpence

Pinch the greaseproof bag
and pull
to release a puff of luxury
rich savoury roasted
cheese and onion
potatoe wafers
the salt in a tiny sachet
invented in fruity Moore Street
where Joe Murphy
the Lord be good to him
was washing spuds in a bath

And here’s to Tayto Murphy
who toasted the devil one night
he lifted his glass to irony
and drank to his heart’s delight
may the hell-fires heat his ovens
and sinners queue to buy
the roasted pinks they harvested
from the clay in hell’s black sky

His fourpence worth of Heaven
Joe Murphy’s gift of life
the finely sliced potatoe
his magic eye his wife

Irish urchins reared on prayers
and disrespectful rhymes
respect with their fourpenny offerings
and millions of fourpenny times
gone their hunger gone the cold
famine turned to feast
Joe Murphy’s scruffy angels toast
their cheese and onion priest