poem and parody

Four Ducks On A Pond

By William Allingham

Four ducks on a pond

A blue sky beyond

What a strange thing to remember for years

To remember with tears

*********

three kids in a garden

by James Healy

Me and Darragh Murphy both aged seven

In the back garden

Of the Healy house

In Main Street Tallaght

1973

Looking over the garden wall

At Brian Kennedy

Who is racing up and down his own garden

Darragh Murphy picks up an old packet of budgie seed

From the ground
In our garden

Where such things were readily found

He reads the advertising slogan aloud from the package

"Trill will make your budgie bounce up and down with health"

And he nods meaningfully towards Brian Kennedy

Racing up and down his own garden

I thought it was unconscionably funny

I still do

The laugh we had illumines my whole childhood

What a strange thing to remember for years

To remember with tears