Down Maghery Way

23 December 2011

Legendary Armagh Poet and Seanchaí Composes a new poem entitled 'Down Maghery Way".

Down Maghery Way

If you're out and about and fancy a run
To take in the views with a wee bit of fun
I know just the place and it's not far away
Just off the M1 down Maghery Way.

There's a big country park that is wild and it's free
To go for a walk there's so much to see
Or sit on the wall and watch your kids play
With everyone swinging down Maghery way.
 
You cross the Blackwater this river serene
And view from the footbridge the meadows of green
A long legged heron is standing alone
With a look of contentment in County Tyrone.

To make up a line for the want of a word
The lough has a calling for human and bird
It's freedom it's living it's hell and it's more
But happiness standing on Maghery Shore.

There's Coney and Peter they're two of a kind
Where history and mystery are part of the mind
The gold in the well and the horse in the clay
And strange goings on down Maghery way.

Come down early morn when the swans are asleep
Creep down to the shore and sneak a wee peak
They stand and they flap and dip with their beak
As much as to say 'hey, look I'm awake'.

Cross over the cut to quaint Derrywarragh
Do call in the club where the craic is a tarra
You may take a wee seat or sit at the bar
And get entertained by the mighty JR.

There's Joe and there's John, there's Jim and there's me
And a big hairy fella they call Johnny Fee
There's Dessie and Simy and Justy and Ned
And a fox when he talks would waken the dead.

So keep coming down to this wonderful place
Where welcome is willed to the whole human race
With nature and beauty united to stay
And harmony lingers down Maghery way.

And tell all your friends of this special retreat
Of the kindness of people you happen to meet
Where health is the byword and hope is a ray
To all those who travel down Maghery way.

Peter Carragher 25/11/2011