ONE THREE
They too have their very own soul brothers, Good morning there, Mr. Walsh, lovely day
known in every town I know of. Never a word out of him, rain or shine
You can see long time corner boys Married to her, you’d be quiet too,
busily polishing walls the tide wouldn’t take her out
of old public buildings, when she was a young one!
shoulders to the wheel I remember that,
so as to speak, there she is now,
hard at work lovely day
watching Missus
all. Walsh
THE CORNER BOYS
TWO FOUR
I These
surely corner
don’t think so! boys don’t miss
Will it last now, anything. The news
well, what do you think? of the town is theirs,
Comments on one and all, they have it all the time.
bold words for everyone, At any hour of the day
knowing all comings and goings, you can know what happened,
with watchful eyes little escapes them, simply asking our old corner boys
full sure certain they know everything. surveillance cameras are not needed.
In Ireland until recently every town and village had it’s quota of corner boys. These were idle men, young and old, who hung around public places passing the day by observing the world and commenting on all and sundry. There are those who claim they may be an endangered species, but are not quite extinct yet. This poem is for them.
Published by The Carnegie Library, Kilkenny, as part of their Poets on Board Scheme, July 2013