Happy Saint Patrick's Day

It's also Happy Birthday to Me.  I saw on the internet that you can book a vacation in Ireland in a horsedrawn caravan wagon.  Would have been an adventure at a younger age but now with one foot firmly into my 8th decade, I'm 71, I crave a little more comfort.  Still, lovely to think about.  Like many, I had two grandmothers who were very proud of their Irish ancestry.

 

 

 

THE FIDDLER OF DOONEY

William Butler Yeats 1865-1939

WHEN I play on my fiddle in Dooney.
Folk dance like a wave of the sea;
My cousin is priest in Kilvarnet,
My brother in Mocharabuiee.

I passed my brother and cousin:
They read in their books of prayer;
I read in my book of songs
I bought at the Sligo fair.

When we come at the end of time
To Peter sitting in state,
He will smile on the three old spirits,
But call me first through the gate;

For the good are always the merry,
Save by an evil chance,
And the merry love the fiddle,
And the merry love to dance:

And when the folk there spy me,
They will all come up to me,
With 'Here is the fiddler of Dooney!'
And dance like a wave of the sea.

And last but not least my shamrocks are in bloom.  A great birthday gift.