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Coach the Piper ( St. Patrick's Day )
| Open Poetry #12 |
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Coach the Piper ( St. Patrick's Day ) |
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Rex Allen McCoy Member Elite
since 2000-01-30
Posts 2863Sippin a Timmy's in London 
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I've always loved this poem ... but I've never found who the author was Coach the Piper ~~~ One winters day long long ago when I was a little fellow A piper wandered to our door gray headed blind and yellow And oh how glad was my young heart though earth and sky looked dreary To see the stranger and his dog poor "Pinch" and Coach O'Leary ~ And when he stowed away his "bag" cross-barred with green and yellow I thought and said "In Ireland's ground there's not so fine a fellow" And Fineen and Shane Machree and Eily Kate and Mary Rushed in with panting haste to "see" and "welcome" Coach O'Leary ~ Oh! god be with those happy times Oh! god be with my childhood When I bare headed roamed all day bird nesting in the wildwood I'll not forget those sunny hours how ever years may vary I'll not forget my early friends Nor honest Coach O'Leary ~ Poor Coach and "Pinch" slept well that night and in the morning early He called me up to hear him play "The wind that shakes the barley" And then he stroked my flaxen hair and cried "God mark my Deary" And how I wept when he said "fairwell and think of Coach O'Leary" ~ The seasons came and went and still old Coach was not forgotten Although I thought him "dead and gone" and in the cold clay rotten And often when I walked and danced with Eily Kate and Mary We spoke of childhood's rosy hours and prayed for Coach O'Leary ~ All twenty summers had gone past and Junes red sun was shining When I a man sat by my door of twenty sad things thinking A little dog came up the way his gait was slow and weary And at his tail a lame man limped 'Twas "Pinch" and Coach O'Leary ~ Old Coach! but ah! how woe-begone his form is bowed and bending His fleshless hands are stiff and wan aye time is ever blending the colors on his thread bare "bag" and "pinch" is twice as hairy And "thin spare" as when first I saw himself and Coach O'Leary ~ "God blessing here" the wanderer cried far far be Hell's black viper Does anybody here abouts remember Coach the Piper With swelling heart I grasped his hand the old man murmured "Deary" Are you the silky headed child that loved poor Coach O'Leary ~ "Yes yes" I said, the wanderer wept as if his heart was breaking "And where a'vhic machree" he sobbed is all the merry making I found here twenty years ago "My tale" I sighed "might weary" Enough to say there's non but me to welcome Coach O'Leary ~ "No no no" the old man cried and wrung his hands in sorrow "Pray lead me in Arther Machree and I'll go home tomorrow My peace is made I'll calmly leave this world so cold and dreary And you shall keep my Pipes and Dog and pray for Coach O'Leary" ~ With "Pinch" I watched his bed that night next day his wish was granted He died and Father James was brought and the Requiem Mass was chanted The neighbors came we dug his grave near Eily Kate and Mary And there he sleeps his last long sleep God rest you Coach O'Leary ~~~ author unknown |
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| © Copyright 2001 Rex Allen McCoy - All Rights Reserved | |||
Joyce Johnson
since 2001-03-10
Posts 9912Washington State |
How could the author of such a wonderful poem be forgotten, but the poem is here in its entirety? Thank you |
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Trillium
since 2001-03-09
Posts 12098Idaho, USA |
I can understand why you like this poem so much. It's wonderful! Thanks for posting it so we could all enjoy it! Betty Lou Hebert |
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Rex Allen McCoy Member Elite
since 2000-01-30
Posts 2863Sippin a Timmy's in London |
Joyce and Betty ... Ireland gave birth to a multitude of poets ... near the turn of the last century ... many of which are now forgotten ... sad Thanks for reading  |
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bad little dog Junior Member
since 2000-07-08
Posts 38city pound |
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irishpappy New Member
since 2005-11-08
Posts 1 |
The poem's author is John Keegan 1809-1849, a victim of the Famine before he could publish his collected poems. He was born in Killeany, Co. Laois; he worked as hedge-school teacher and later at Shanahoe Nat. School; was a contrib\utor to Leinster Express, 1837, the Dublin University Magazine, Nation, Irish National Magazine. The poem was originally namesd "Caoch, the Piper", but quickly became popular as "aoch O'Leary" because of the repeats in the stanzas. |
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skyshine
since 2002-02-07
Posts 3058Beneath the northern stars |
It's always nice to find a poem written by a "classic" author on these pages. Thank you to Rex for sharing the poem (now presumably in the public domain??) and to Irishpappy for the information about the author. Happy St. Patrick's Day!  ~sky I hope someday you get the chance to live like you were dying.... |
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JBOC New Member
since 2006-11-15
Posts 1 |
HI , Caoch the piper was written by John Keegan 1809 -1849 -died of cholera |
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