The Children of Lir Return to Earth
Somewhere near here, their ancient,
tattered, worn-out wings were shed,
the scruffy cloak of shabby plumage
cudgelled by the gales and seas.
At last the striving years had ceased,
but not the yearning for their childhood
innocence – the nursery, doting parents
who would reappear, parting the thin
curtain of mortality to hold them near.
Instead, four shivering old bags
of bones: two toothless, ancient crones,
two scarifying brothers, jawbones
jutting, sockets gouging cheeks.
Not yet gone from memory, they rest,
it’s said, beneath this white quartz
rock – the lumpy nub of pillow
on which coins are laid to rust
by people who believe in myth,
and people who perhaps do not,
but nonetheless feel wistfulness
for legendary times long lost.
*A site near Allihies, on the Beara Peninsula,
West Cork, is one of a number said to be the final
resting place of the Children of Lir.
https://ringofbeara.wordpress.com/2009/09/14/children-of-lir-mythical-site-allihies-county-cork-ireland/
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