Méabh Tighe, 2013

10 years old 

Distant cousin of Daniel & Catherine Tighe recites her poem “The Journey” written on the occasion of the Richard Tye’s (Daniel’s great grandson’s) return to Strokestown from Quebec for the first time since 1847 for the 2013 Gathering.
The Journey

 

Farewell Cloonshreen, for we must go

To a land of no disease.

The crops have failed and my family dies

And no future here can I see.

 

At thirteen years, I am now a man

With my mother and sister we go.

Naomi is waiting, and aboard we climb,

To sail to a far away shore.

 

The journey was long and it took its toll

And we said goodbye to our mother.

We arrived in Quebec, Catherine and I

With the shirts on our backs and our name.

 

Daniel and Catherine had a good life

Their past they never forgot,

Their story was told to Leo as a boy,

And now Richard, will tell it again.

 

The years have passed, and it’s time to return

To the land from where they hailed,

To meet their family and see their home,

And gather together once more.