The Games We Played
Author: Seamus Kavanagh

The Games We Played
Author: Seamus Kavanagh

Poet Seamus Kavanagh remembers the games of his boyhood. days on the Carlow - Wicklow border.

Among the rocks near "Miley's"
We had our own "Wild West"
Tom Mix, Roy Rogers And Hop Along,
Were the heroes we love best.
With wooden guns and steady aim,
We hardly ever missed,
As we shot down all the outlaws,
Upon the " Wanted List".

But when the "Leathers Echo"
Sounded near the hall,
The notes of the pied piper,
Had not a sweeter call.
The sheep were the spectators,
The ditch the Hogan Stand,
And Keogh's dog the leader,
As we walked behind the band!

We kicked, we ran, we scored,
We didn't have a care
And each took turns to commentate.
Just like Micheal O Hehir.
We fished for trout in the "Tinker's Brook"
When the Summer stream was low,
While in the drifts of Winter,
We tracked rabbits in the snow.

With piece of stick and bicycle wheel,
We could roam the world o'er,
No hill too high no sea too deep,
That we could not explore.
When the cuckoo called and swallow came,
We searched every tree and bush,
And each of us could tell the nest.
Of blackbird, wren or thrush.

We picked chestnuts in the Autumn
Searched for frogspawn in the Spring
And when the "Frockens" ripened,
It was then we ate our fill!
Among the ferns at " Hide and Seek"
It was the girls against the boys,
We now had grown much older
And outgrown all our toys.

Love it bloomed and hearts were broke,
As we learned how to grow
And you I sought and sometimes found
When did I let you go?