Peggy O Keeffe

She lived in Millstreet Parish for most of her long life
Her name was Peggy Tarrant before she became Autie O Keeffe's wife
She and Autie raised their children John and Peg in Minor Row
Such people as they were nice people to know

With shoulder length dark brown wavy hair in her life's prime
Though this is going back many decades in time
One of the prettiest in Millstreet in the days of old
In her ways a nice person and quite beautiful to behold

The great gift of life from Peggy O Keeffe may have gone
But in all who knew her good memories of her will live on
She lived as a good person of her one can say
And her family and friends worse off for her passing today

Her journey in life may have come to an end
But many in Millstreet will miss her as a friend
With Autie in St Mary's her last remains lay
From where they used to live just a short walk away.

If You Have Many Friends

If you have many friends you too have some foes
This is how life is one would have to suppose
Like the wise parents advice to their daughter and son
You cannot be everything to everyone
Not everyone you know wishes to be your friend
This is how it is why otherwise pretend
The people popular with everyone are rarer than rare
This is something of which you ought to be aware
Quite a popular person the one reputed to be the most popular in the town
Though a few in their words verbally put him down
The words of the wise one well worthy of recall
You well may win many but you will not win them all
If you have many friends you too have some foes
This is how life is one would have to suppose.

I Feel Lucky In Life

I feel lucky in life in some sort of a way
On the kind and nice people i meet every day
Those who on humanity my faith does restore
Though of their kind the World is in need of far more
Unaware i dropped twenty dollars in the park yesterday
Till an old lady nearby to me did say
Sir you have dropped twenty dollars it is there on the ground
On a complete stranger to me in her a trusting friend i had found
She could have put the twenty dollars in her purse and i would not have known
But far more honest than dishonest people in the World is something to me that is known
When i thanked the old lady for her honesty
She said i know that you would do the same for me
Just one example of human integrity
There are billions of honest people in the World crooks are in minority.

As A Boy And A Young Man

As a boy and a young man i played Gaelic Football
But at that game i was not of any use at all
But the Gaelic Football stars of my young years today walking slow
The years even on the best do eventually show

I feel reasonably happy and healthy for one of my years
And for the past i have no regrets or tears
And though i will never be honored in story and song
I am amongst the lucky to have survived this long

Time and distance has me far south of my first home-place
Where years ago mine to most was a known face
But we all follow the course of our life's destiny
At least anyway this is how it seems to me

As a young man i played Gaelic Football and Soccer and in Road Races did compete
But i never became a sporting hero of Millstreet
But of living six decades and eight years thus far i did survive
And i feel quite happy to be in good health and alive.

Where Dead People Lay

In every village and town and city and on every street
People with each other for success do compete
But for every individual all of this does come to an end one day
There are no competitions where dead people lay

Why do we have this urge in us that drives us to compete
For to be the best in business or the best athlete
Or the wealthiest or most popular one in the town
The need is in most for their place in renown

Though this in itself seems a sad thing to say
Money speaks every language it does seem this way
Everyday people compete for money and fame
In the Human World it does seem success is the big game

Suppose it is all about self centeredness as well as greed
That some people only think of their own need
And live for the self till the day they do die
Yet there should be more to life than me, myself and i

It is only the praises of those deemed to be successful the impressionable majority do sing
In a World where success remains as the in thing
But the Reaper of Lives on all lives has the final say
And there are no competitions for success where dead people lay.

We Live In An age

We live in an age when the men and women of rhyme
Will not be remembered beyond their lifetime
Times as ever changing and few things do last
And tomorrow today it will be of the past

Though despite the best efforts to kill it off by the literary critics rhyme is not dead
And who knows it may become popular again in the decades ahead
And long after the life from the last twenty first century literary critic has gone
Rhyme as the source of song it will be living on

By literary critics who graduated from uni with literary degrees we are told
That rhyme does belong back there in the days of old
It is they who decide who or who is not a poet
Or who is even worthy of the title of one of minor literary note

Those who claim that rhyme in the long gone decades belong
Though they think they are clever have got it all wrong
Decades ago their sort did say that rhyme would not survive
But in centuries from this day it will be read, sung and recited and very much alive.

The Man Who Always Speaks The Truth

It is said he is arrogant and lacking in ruth
That he is not a nice person the man who always speaks the truth
His honesty never has won him a friend
Deceit can work wonders for you why otherwise pretend
For lies in his life there is never a place
He will tell you what he thinks of you up to your face
It is said of him that he lacks in common sense
That if he learned for to bend the truth he would cause less offense
He may well be a person of integrity
Though one never wins friends out of complete honesty
The most truthful person in all of the town
But complete honesty is never a claim to renown
The reason he is seen as arrogant and lacking in ruth
Is that he is a person who lives by the truth.