The Class of Fifty Seven!

 The Class of Fifty Seven!

This is another one that was sent to the SiarScéal Festival and is about emigration and especially refers to 1957 when it is estimated that at least sixty thousand people left Ireland. The figure given for the period between 1945 and 1960 is about half a million. Extraordinary! I spent about a year in London around 1970 and the poem above harks back to all those who talked of going home. Not many I'd say.

The Class of Fifty Seven

Back for summertime vacations

Paid for Confirmations made

Last year's Debs

Or school reunions

With the shovel and the spade

The whole schoolyard assembled

With the writing on the wall

The class of fifty seven

And the Boat Train called

Danced round tunes

Played on a Sunday

Whiskey talk of going home

On the streets off

Kilburn High Road

Cricklewood or Camden Town

The Mission Fields of Asia

The States the sessions

And the craic

The ones who made it famous

The ones who never made it back.

Frank Murphy