Raglan Road

Patrick Kavanagh (1904 – 1967) was an Irish poet and novelist. He is regarded as one of the foremost poets of the 20th century and his best known works include the novel Tarry Flynn and the poems Raglan Road and the critically acclaimed The Great Hunger. His work can best be categorized as accounts of Irish life which reached universality through the commonplace.

Luke Kelly (1940 - 1984) was an Irish singer and folk musician from Dublin, notable as a founding member of the band The Dubliners.

Luke Kelly met Patrick Kavanagh only once while at a bar called The Bailey in Dublin. During this encounter, Kavanagh heard Luke singing and approached him to say that he had a song for him. The poem was 'Raglan Road'.

For most people, Luke Kelly's interpretation of 'Raglan Road' is the definitive one.




On Raglan Road of an autumn day
I saw her first and knew
That her dark hair would weave a snare
That I might one day rue
I saw the danger and I passed
Along the enchanted way
And I said let grief be a fallen leaf
At the dawning of the day

On Grafton Street in November
We tripped lightly along the ledge
Of a deep ravine where can be seen
The worth of passion's pledge
The Queen of Hearts still making tarts
And I not making hay
Oh I loved too much and by such by such
Is happiness thrown away

I gave her gifts of the mind
I gave her the secret signs
Known to the artists who have known
The true gods of sound and stone
And word and tint I did not stint
I gave her poems to say
With her own name there
And her own dark hair
Like clouds over fields of May

On a quiet street where old ghosts meet
I see her walking now
Away from me so hurriedly my reason must allow
That I had loved not as I should
A creature made of clay
When the angel woos the clay
He'll lose his wings at the dawn of day

MLK Weekend in the Big Easy

Spent last weekend in New Orleans. It was a football weekend, and everyone in the city was walking around yelling "Who dat?". It's on signs, on t-shirts, on posters, there are people chanting it, yelling it at each other, it's crazy. Apparently it means "Who is that team saying they are going to beat us?", so they just say "Who dat?".

Also found a perfect restaurant for po-boys. There was only 1 bartender who was a skinny old man probably close to 70. There were 2 beers on tap: Coors light and PBR, each $2. The po-boys were 14 inches long. In a working class part of town, almost no signage out front. It's been there since the 1920s. Domilise's. Check it out if you're there.