‘Corofin Dreaming’ by David Watt

The potato blight and resultant Great Famine struck Ireland from 1845 to 1851. Potato crops didn’t recover until 1852, by which time at least one million people had emigrated to escape poverty and starvation. A further one million people perished during this period. Meanwhile, Australia experienced a gold rush.

In the year of eighteen fifty-one a story had begun
When Adair O’Shea was blown away by a comely Irish lass.
She had golden hair, and a smile as rare as mist on a summer’s day;
And her blarney came with sass enough to wilt the flowers of May.

There were suitors manifold for the girl with hair of gold:
One Miss Ellen Quinn of Corofin; the pride of County Clare.
But Adair, with a flair for get-rich schemes, and Ellen, more hard-nosed,
Were attracted to each other like two forces unopposed.

By the loughs and forts of Burren Way, they courted day-by-day,
Where the crags of lime held blooms sublime, and peregrines took wing.
As you may surmise, it was no surprise that fondness grew to love,
And a Claddagh ring on Ellen’s hand replaced her silken glove.

They were wed on a Sunday afternoon, to a lively fiddler’s tune,
And although the blight retained its bite, it didn’t slow their dance.
At the bridal feast the parish priest declared that faith persists,
And he took the chance to lead the hymn entitled: “Simple Gifts.”

In a cabin built on stony ground, the newlyweds soon found
That a bed of straw, a lean-to door, and stock for company
Were enough for now; but still, somehow, they had to find the way
To a future where tenacity and honest sweat repay.

Then, as if on cue, there came the news that lit their readied fuse.
There had been a find of the golden kind in a distant southern land;
Where adventurous folk may shed the yoke of squalor and disease;
And the suntanned Aussie leprechauns hoard nuggets, if you please!

With the force of dreams commanding, and a carpet bag in hand
Adair bid farewell to Ellen—and her parting words were these:
“When sufficient gold is ours to hold, call me to join you there,
Where the native trees have gum for leaves, and days are warm and fair.”

But the weeks passed by like donkey’s years, and magnified her fears
That a tiger snake, or mine mistake, had struck her husband down.
As a balm for doubt, Ellen went all-out to find a substitution
For the kind of thoughts which swirl around for want of resolution.

Ellen made her way to Ballyvaughan on a draught horse dappled grey,
For she chose to see the shore that he had seen fall fast behind.
There the rise and swell performed a spell resulting in reflection;
And it liberated Ellen’s mind, inclined to circumspection.

Where the water lapped the seashore, Ellen saw his face once more
In a sparkling pool, till currents cruel swept in to break the flow.
Left alone again, she thought of when they’d shared such hopes and dreams
Of a life to come, where wealth may grow from toil and golden seams.

At that moment too, when a dusty hue gave way to a sky complete
With an aurous light that his miner’s right had never once revealed;
Adair saw each speck as a fiery fleck, reminding nights of old
When the peat’s light wheeled and danced around her silken tresses gold.

Ellen rode back home and bid farewell to those she ought to tell;
And with usual flair, Ellen snagged a fare on the steamer: Southern Light.
While Adair made plans to trade gold pans for settled life in town,
As he waited for the sight of gold above an Irish gown.

In the world we know, there are times which show that love is no illusion.
For though far apart: call it luck or heart, they had reached the same conclusion!

Corofin, County Clare, Ballyvaughan, and Burren Way are locations in Ireland
A Claddagh ring is a traditional Irish ring.

David Watt is a writer from Canberra, the “Bush Capital” of Australia. He has contributed regularly to Collections of Poetry and Prose by Robin Barratt. When not working for IP (Intellectual Property) Australia, he finds time to appreciate the intrinsic beauty of traditional rhyming poetry.