Listen my love

As you take my hand

As we walk gently to the town’s fair

I can no longer love you

in the way that you wish

under Wolfs Tone’s marbled stare.

You see my Ma thinks that we have

no future together

and I’m inclined to agree

for I seek a different life sailing the sea

beyond our small life

here in Bantry.

So she said her fond farewells

his face drowned in tears,

and the taste of bitter salt

catching in his throat, and she told him

she’d always think of him fondly

but that it was over now, and that it was not her fault.

He waited for many a long year

for the red-haired girl to return

but he was only fooling himself

for she had found happiness

being on her own, with the world to see

being true to her own wandering self.

You see my Ma thinks that we have

no future together

and I’m inclined to agree

for I seek a different life sailing the sea

beyond our small life

here in Bantry.

Ian D. Hall 2021

Inspired by the music of John Chatterton.