Last week a reader from Ireland, Tom Kearney, left a comment on a posting about a poetry competition which took place at the Ventnor Library last year. In his comment, he mentioned a book that he has published to help raise funds for Sightsavers.
Last year alone, working with partners, Sightsavers treated 23.2 million for potentially blinding conditions and helped restore sight to 244,909 people.
We were keen to hear more about Tom’s book and the inspiration behind it.
I’m a native of Dundrum in the County of Tipperary …… it’s a long way !…… in southern Ireland and I reside in the town of Shannon (adjacent to the the international airport of the same name) which is in the county of Clare and borders Tipperary. Rather than go into exact figures, I like to describe myself as ‘ a happy man of autumnal years’ and leave it at that!
I have been a barman for much of my working life and so, I suppose, can honestly claim that this has qualified me also, as a counsellor, a psychiatrist, a confessor, a medicine man (specialising in hangovers) and a bosom and ever-available friend to countless imbibers!
Truth to tell, one of the main reasons I published this collection of poems was because of the daily reminder of what loss of vision entails.
My 10- year-old grand-daughter Grace, was born partially sighted. However, she does all the things that little girls love to do and is a happy and amazing child. Nevertheless, it does bring about a lump in the throat sometimes, to see her struggle to cope with her handicap.
As well, my friend and neighbour Tom Downes is blind. Both of them were in my mind when I decided to write a book of poetry and it was easy to make up my mind as to which charity, on this occasion, the proceeds should go to.
Sightsavers , the charity I choose, is doing fantastic work fighting blindness in Asia, Africa and the Caribbean and it’s Irish headquarters is in Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin.
“That I May See” is a 32 page booklet, beautifully illustrated, containing 35 poems.
It is priced at €10 + €2.50 cents for p&p. One thousand copies have been printed and each copy is signed and dated by the author.
You can order your copy online through Tom’s Website, where you can also find some more of his poetry.
O come and see the tallship son
That’s anchored in the Bay
For she is the Jeanie Johnson
And she’s from another day
She is the one that binds us son
To famine days of yore
When our forefathers had to flee
Far from old Ireland’s shore
It was in the year of forty-eight
She first sailed from Tralee
On board were famine emigrants
Five score and ninety- three
They bade farewell to Blenerville
And their lovely island home
And with heavy heart they did depart
To brave the Atlantic foam
Here’s to the Jeanie Johnson
And to all her gallant crew
Who brought them safe to Baltimore
Quebec and New York too
Here’s to the kindness of those folk
Who made them welcome there
And helped to heal their loneliness
Their anguish and despair
With heart and hands in these great lands
Their courage saw them through
And they sent back home whate’er they could “¦”¦
Though of dollars they had few
But they had a dream a steadfast dream
Their loved ones to bring o’er
Far from the blight and misery
And the dreaded Gorta Mor
O then father I shall keep them
In my memory with pride
And I’ll not forget the many
Who back in the old land died
May the good Lord bless our ancestors
And those noble people who
Ever mindful of our history
Rebuilt that ship anew
Here’s to the Jeanie Johnson
And to all her gallant crew
Who brought them safe to Baltimore
Quebec and New York too
Here’s to the kindness of those folk
Who made them welcome there
And helped to heal their loneliness
Their anguish and despair
Footnote : The tallship Jeanie Johnson was one of a number of vessels which, back in the days of the Great Famine of the 1840’s, carried thousands of famished and heartbroken Irish from their homeland to such faraway destinations (in those days) as Canada and the United States of America. However, the Jeanie Johnson was unique among all the rest in that she never lost a passenger during her many trips across the Atlantic Ocean and this at a time when, tragically, so many perished on board those other vessels.
