My lighthouse - a poem

Galley Head light c.1906

This poem, by an Irish emigré, was sent by the author's daughter, Eileen McGowan, to the Museum of the O'Connell Schools in North Richmond Street, many, many years ago, accompanied by a note that said: 

We were living at 194, Richmond Terrace, Staten Island, at the time this poem was written, so it is safe to say it was one of Papa's last compositions. We moved to St. George in 1902 and Papa was waked there in 1915. He was forever fascinated by the way the Robbin's Reef lighthouse and the Statue of Liberty light blinked and shone into his bedroom window. Our home was on the Shore Road and we faced the waters of Kill von Kull Straights and the New York Bay. Lying in his bed, he could easily see the lighthouse and Statue, just as though they were in his own front yard.

The first Fastnet

My Lighthouse

Where I grew up on Ardagh’s Heights,

I’d see the bright, revolving lights

Of Fastnet Rock and Galley Head

That round about their brilliance shed

To guide the ships to Cork.

 

Where I grew up on Ardfield’s Heights,

I’d see the bright, revolving lights

Of Robbin’s Reef and, up the bay,

Bartholdi’s Liberty’s calm ray

That guide ships to New York.

 

And there or here, in youth or age,

The selfsame goal my thoughts engage:

My lighthouse – Irish Freedom – streams

O’er life’s rough wave, her fervent beams

In Cove or in New York.

Robbins Reef lighthhouse

Oh, nearly forgot. The name of the poet was Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa.

Some little-known lighthouse in New York