Tick Tock, Tick Tock and Other Poems

In her 92nd year, Bridie has published a selection of her poems. They're filled with typical Gaelic humour and express her faith, loves and losses.

Bridie O'Connor was born in 1925 in Ballinasloe, Ireland. She moved to England in 1960, where she raised her four sons. She returned home in 2002. She now lives in Clonberne, close to friends and family and some of her 15 grandchildren. This is her rst book of poetry.

There are 38 poems in this volume, including:

The Homestead

I walked that rugged boreen that once I knew so well

In search of kith and kin, a story I ached to tell

The scent of bog land heather, the familiar fragrance hit my nose My heart so full of sorrow, can I trace them, no one knows.

No sign of that old thatched cottage, my Camelot so serene

That boyish curiosity haunted me but nobody could be seen

In the distant backdrop I saw the verdant greenwood

Some cattle grazed the upland while others chewed the cud.

I bowed my head to my family who lived a simple life

In their little whitewashed haven, a farmer and his wife

They opened up the half-door to people one and all

My joyful youth was magical. Now I'm glad I made that call.