Untold Joys
Author: Martin Power

Untold Joys
Author: Martin Power

To drink once more from Sleaty pump
That cool, clear water of an August day
And walk the road with childhood friends
Past Sleaty church to Knockbeg weir
And spend a carefree day again
Without the weight of worldly woes
And live again those happy days
When youthful ways were to the fore

Or to swing a club for eighteen holes
In St. Fiacc's pitch and putt
Upon a warm summer's day
And smell the grass so freshly cut
Or cast a rod at Webster's Lock
And wait to see the rod tip twitch
And hear the bell of St. Clare's church
Ring out the angelus at six.

To hear once more my mother's voice
Say 'Well, how are you son?'
Or Sunday drives in my father's car
And hear him sing his songs,
To watch my grandfather large as life
From a saucer sup his tea
Or gather in the family home
And pray the Rosary on our knees.

But these are childhood memories
And precious though they be
Are left back on the tracks of time
And never more can be.
But the train of life keeps rolling on
And new people have come on board
And creating memories now with them
Brings joys that are untold.

The poem is a collection of snapshots from times past, places and people now gone; but, we must continue to make new memories for ourselves and our loved ones.