Sweet All

Ah, sweet all
‘Tis a pity I cannot sing now
To your poor and mortal ears
As you call for uzz to sing a song

But as I lean back
From this marvelous groaning board
As I lean back gently
Rubbing my proportions
Celebrate that I am here
And dine with the fallen gods
Friends now passed and friends I yet have met

Ah well
I would have loved to speak my own words
Resounding with the swell of Shakespeare
Or that other lad
An' now t’would have been lovely to make you cry
With songs of Yeats and other faerie loves

Ah but never feast on your regrets
I leave you there fair
Friends

Ah the past
Never mind the drab windows
Or all the rubbish parts
The only thing worth carrying
Is all your blessed hearts
And all your faults
And kindnesses

I sit here now
As the ale passes round
And my the food is good
And the craic is something marvelous
So many songs that I have never heard
That it will take eternity to learn them all
How I sang with you my friends
Now I sing forever
Of a long life and a wet mouth

Sure it falls to you
To stand your shout
To raise a hale and hearty glass
And belt one out for all of us
…And all our foolish failings