The Hokey Pokey In Claraghatlea

In life there is laughter and sorrow and tears
But good memories do last through the decades of years
The good memories are ours a lifetime to enjoy
And i have good memories of Claraghatlea as a boy

Back in the late fifties a long time ago
The Murphy cousins musicians Jackie and Neily Joe
Had a dancing timber platform in Claraghatlea on a quarter of ground owned by Matty Owen
The old memories in me by time have not been outgrown

On Summer evenings at the timber platform a kilometer west of Millstreet Town
Neily Joe and Jackie Murphy played music until after sundown
To their hearts delight for three hours or more
The men and women of Millstreet west danced around the platform floor

There were dance evenings on the Claraghatlea Platform from early Summer to mid Fall
And one particular evening in mid July i will always recall
When Annagloor's Jimmy Twohig and his wife Kathy dancers quite sprightly on their feet
Introduced The Hokey Pokey to the dancers west of Millstreet

It is an old memory that is with me today
The other dancers stood and applauded as Jimmy and Kathy gave their Hokey Pokey display
A memory that has survived through the Seasons of time
Though then i was many years from my life's prime

Many of the people who danced on the Claraghatlea timber dance platform in eternal rest lay
And the young people back then are now showing time's decay
And the music comes to me from the long ago
Of the musician Murphy cousins Jackie and Neily Joe

The Claraghatlea Timber Dancing Platform a memory of what used to be
Another thing of great beauty of Duhallow's past history
And the memory remains with me as the sun was going down
Of Jimmy and Kathy Twohig dancing the Hokey Pokey on the Platform near Millstreet Town.