The Broad Majestic Shannon
By Shane MacGowan (1988) The last time I saw you was down at the GreeksThere was whiskey on Sunday and tears on our cheeks
You sang me a song as pure as the breeze
Blowing up the road to Glenaveigh
I sat for a while at the cross at Finnoe
Where young lovers would meet when the flowers were in bloom
Heard the men coming home from the fair at Shinrone
Their hearts in Tipperary wherever they go
Take my hand, and dry your tears babe
Take my hand, forget your fears babe
There's no pain, there's no more sorrow
They're all gone, gone in the years babe
I sat for a while by the gap in the wall
Found a rusty tin can and an old hurley ball
Heard the cards being dealt, and the rosary called
And a fiddle playing Sean Dun na nGall
And the next time I see you we'll be down at the Greeks
There'll be whiskey on Sunday and tears on our cheeks
For it's stupid to laugh and it's useless to bawl
About a rusty tin can and an old hurley ball
So I walked as day was dawning
Where small birds sang and leaves were falling
Where we once watched the row boats landing
By the broad majestic Shannon
That nut case, Sinead O'Connor calls Shane a "sweet angel near the end". Well, he is sweet and he is an angel of a poet. I want to believe that he can overcome his troubles. I have the greatest respect for those who can and do.
I have a quick tale today. Do you recall the Angel Whisperer?
You can go back and read about him here on this older post: CHEESUS LOVES ME
Today I overslept. I have been talked into getting on Facebook. I have some friends there and there was a little something I needed to make right from a bazillion years back with an old acquaintance. So there was time last night and I got down to it.
I made a dumb mistake that took me hours to correct! I fell into bed around the time I usually get up... 4:00a.m.
I drug myself up at 10:00a.m. There was no coffee! That's just wrong. So I called StbX and asked him to buy me coffee. He agreed. As we are reading our paper, in walks The Angel Whisperer. The little alarm in my head begain to squeal. I tried to get lost in my paper and be focused only there.
Sure enough he stopped at our table and smiled. God help me, I smiled back. StbX glowered. But to my amazement all the big guy did was make a normal mentally healthy comment about the weather and then lumbered on to his own booth.
We had just finished our meal and were getting up to go when The Angel Whisperer stood up and nodded his smiling head at us. I gave a little wave. (I know... I can't seem to help myself!)
He said: "Your angels are singing. Can you hear them?"
I was trying to formulate an answer when he spoke again and made it clear that this was a rhetorical question.
"They must really love you."
There is only one answer to that statement.
"Thank you." I said as he walked out the door.
I don't know about you... but after yesterday's post song by Westlife that goes:
"I believe in angels, something good in everything I see... I belive in agnels... "
I couldn't help but think that if he has to be crazy, then it's a sweet kind of crazy.
Wouldn't it be wonderful to be so close to angels that you could hear them sing?
To wear such a beautiful smile everywhere you went ?
What if he is not the one who is crazy?
What if we aren't good enough for angels to trust us to see them?
You know, I don't think I mind if angels sing to me. Sweet.
And I hope I can see something good in everything.
*
You're right, at least he's not a creepy, violent brand of crazy. Thanks for sharing this story, but I thought you were on vacation.
ReplyDeleteAlienCG-- Hi! Well I am but I have to tell you, I am pretty darned boring and not very entertaining. I can't seem to stay away from the keyboard. So I guess its a part time vacation to my room. Ha. But I am doing less in the posts.
ReplyDeletei've been a fan of sinead ever since she tore up the pope's photo.
ReplyDeleteA very good goal to have...
ReplyDeletebilly pilgrim-- Oops... I spelled her name wrong. Thanks for spelling it right. I will amend that.
ReplyDeleteI knew she didn't like the Pope, but had no idea she'd made a point of tearing up his photo...LOL.
You certainly find the most interesting information, billy. Thanks.
Pamela-- I'm thinking so too. Funny how the universe can show up and teach you a lesson that is so obvious, yet illusive prior to enlightenment.
ReplyDeleteWow, that sounds heavy. hee hee But true.
That Pogues song has really pretty lyrics, thanks for sharing them.
ReplyDeleteI think if you are going to have someone "different" talking to you, the Angel Whisperer doesn't sound so bad :-) And I very much like the idea of seeing something good in everything. I try hard to live that way.
I fall into the category of those who would believe, but can't until it is proved to me or I see it for myself. Ghosts, angels, UFOs, the whole gamut of unverifiable phenomena. The older I become, the more skeptical I grow.
ReplyDeletelaura b.-- Well, he always has this big huge happy smile on his face. But I do admit that the first time I met him I was a little scared.
ReplyDeleteIt is the best way to live! I can see that you are that way too.
cube-- I have been waiting for my mom to contact me since she died... we had this Houdini thing going on where she was going to let me know. So far nothing.
ReplyDeleteBut then,you are the science lady... the Scully to my Mulder. ;) I am so very much like Fox... I want to believe.
I love how you put it... the Scully to your Mulder. I do have the science background, but there is a part of me that so wants to believe, but I can't do it without proof. I'm waiting, though, really I am.
ReplyDeleteI have had contact with my dead relatives via dreams - more when they are recently dead and less and less after the mourning is over. That is the extent of my ghost contacts.
ReplyDeleteAs for the Ghost Whisperer- whenever you have eye contact, they feel free to talk to you ....therefore I almost always avoid eye contact and then I miss statements about angles loving me....
Hum.
P.S. Don't give up on your mom. Keep your eyes and your mind open for the signals. I wouldn't either.
ReplyDeleteCube-- I understand your feeling on that.
ReplyDeleteAs for my mom... I have one dream about her, only one and she is always rocking Max as a baby singing to him. But when I wake up, I can smell her as clearly as if she was there that minute. She smelled very good BTW. But I often have strong scents that accompany memories.
In fact, if I can't locate something in my head... if i can recall a smell that I associate with the event, it comes back like ringing a bell... sweet and clear. Sort of my brain's filing system.
crazy4coens-- He's an Angel Whisperer. No ghosts. That would freak me out. Angels don't frighten me. Ghosts would make me move very, very fast to far away.
ReplyDeleteI know that I shouldn't and I still manage to look up and get caught. Everyone in Dumb Potters Hell knows everyone else... we all smile at each other and say hello by name. The entire town is one big Cheers Bar. It is such a habit to look at every face... because they call you on it if you don't notice them.
Thankfully, my parents are still with me. I do miss my very cool paternal grandmother who died
ReplyDeleteminutes after the day that I turned 15. Very traumatic for me because I loved her very much.
Years later, before Mr. Cube & I were going to get married, I had a dream in which my grandmother came to me and asked me if he made me happy. I said that he did and she seemed happy to hear it and then went to leave. I tried to stop her because I had so much more to share with her but she said she had to go. To this day, this remains one of the most vivid dreams I have ever had.
Cube-- That is such a lovely dream. I glad that you shared that. It makes me feel good to hear it. So sweet. You must have loved her very much.
ReplyDeleteStill do.
My dream with my mom rocking Max was vivid too. It's was like a slice out of a day... the real bit.
Although I don't literally believe in angels, I like the figurative idea of hearing he angels' songs.
ReplyDeleteSecret Agent Woman-- Me too! It is a sweet idea and he is a sweet man, if not a normal man. May God bless him for his kindness and smiling face.
ReplyDeleteI feel like my angels are there, floating right above me, holding the sword of Damocles above me. Fortunately I can't see all this, so out of sight, out of mind is what I says...
ReplyDeleteSebastien-- With the sword of Damocles hanging over your head, it is my bet that your angels will indeed see that the hair never breaks and it remains aloft. Angels are good like that.
ReplyDelete0:)