Irish Diplomacy: The ability to tell someone to go to hell, so that he looks forward to the trip

[Hekate]

3. Have you read Moya Cannon's book "Carry the Songs" ?

Here is one poem:

Carrying the Songs
by Moya Cannon

It was always those with little else to carry

who carried the songs

to Babylon,

to the Mississippi —

some of these last possessed less than nothing

did not own their own bodies

yet, three centuries later,

deep rhythms from Africa,

stowed in their hearts, their bones,

carry the world’s songs.



For those who left my county,

girls from Downings and the Rosses

who followed herring boats north to Shetland

gutting the sea’s silver as they went

or boys from Ranafast and Horn Head

who took the Derry boat,

who slept over a rope in a bothy,

songs were their souls’ currency,

the pure metal of their hearts,


to be exchanged for other gold,

other songs which rang out true and bright

when flung down

upon the deal boards of their days.

☘️ ☘️ ☘️