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Posted by: waterfarm,
on 27/06/2011,
in category "Railways, Mining and Mineral Transport"
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Abstract: A poem by Siobhan Ni Luain (Born June 1889 Died Feb 1970)
Siobhan was born and reared in the townland of Ballsallagh in Glenravel.She was a prolific writer of poems and short stories many of which were published in 'The Dublin Opinion' Many of her poems were written about childhood memories around Glenravel. The Narrow Gauge Line is from her book of poems titled 'The Sally Patch And Other Poems'.
THE NARROW GAUGE LINE
Looking up through the trees,
Leaning out from the door,
I shall never again
See the train from Parkmore
With its small shining engine
So sturdy and grand
And it winding its way
Through the length of the land.
Oh, there once was a time,
And a time there was then,
When the train, like the river,
Was part of the glen,
And the thread that connected us,
Silver and fine,
With the rest of the world
Was the narrow gauge line.
You never knew what
That small train might be bringing
To the halt by the bushes
With all the birds singing;
With its soft trail of smoke
And its rumble of thunder;
And who would get out
Would be half a days wonder.
There’s no child will ever
Go running again
To stand on the bridge
And see the small train
Leap straight at the darkness
And thunder beneath
And out and away
To the wind and the heath.
There’s no child will wait now
To feel the bridge shake
And shout for adventure’s
Sweet perilous sake.
Where silver rails shone
There is wilderness now
And the whins, the wild ash
And the weed grasses grow.
When I was a child
I’d have said that forever
The train would endure
Just the same as the river.
But the world’s in a hurry
With your life and mine
And it hasn’t much use
For a narrow-gauge line.
By SIOBHAN Ni LUAIN