How Are You Hittin' It? Poem by Joe Hughes

(To Lilly Hughes R.I.P)

You lie peacefully now.
Your long years of toil finally over.
Your Donegal beginnings never left you,
Steeped as you were in its sheep studded mountains.
Many were your families.
Wide your lashings of love.
Much your unending responsibilities
Defined, in detail, by us who really know.
Yours were many battles
Fought on many fronts-
Religious, nationalist, family, principle.
There was laughter too
With a glint in an all seeing eye
Which truly knew the score.
In later life your memory faded
But ours were deepened by your kindness.
Bacchus, a much loved family visitor
Who often overstayed his welcome,
Played a vicious role in your going.
You'd have preferred to have drunk his juice.
For you, no more Power's with water,
No poetry to please.
You had all the 9's - 99
But no bingo to win.
No new Ireland's Own to cherish.
No more troubles to spoil
Your happy, new celestial day.