AT dawn the silver bird will rise
And carry us across the azure summer skies
To Dublin town -- and there
We will rejoice in noisy streets (not unlike here)
But served with a better kind of beer.

Adieu, dear sibs of MOAB fame
Pray do not let decline or shame
Fall on Mom's honored halls.
Have balls.

While with cheerful gay abandon
Upon the wide and silver Shannon
Will make my way by river boat
(Hoping to keep the thing afloat)
And in pubs and villages make the ken
Of lovely maids and stalwart me
And turn, and drift back down again.

Adieu, dear friends--I will be nigh
But past the reach of most WiFi
And busy with my Irish host
Will not be able, much, to post.
So raise the standard, stay in touch
And each of you post twice as much!

Joyce-Ann Meriwether Smithers
"Ballad On Departure for the Irish Shore"

Collected Songs of MOAB, Smaug Press, Ltd., Westport Connecticut 1994, Brindle Heifer, editor.