James Joyce and The Perfect June 16th

James Joyce and The Perfect June 16th

June 16^th in a south Dublin town

Is your only man, a jewel in the crown.

Sandycove beach for a nice early walk

A dip round the corner and some Forty Foot talk.

The buses pull up and the Yanks scratch their heads

Let’s all get some Ice cream….. is it Teddy’s or Teds?

We see all the people in splendid regalia

And friends all the way from Glasthule and Australia.

It’s a funny small town with a proud noisy boast

And it sits in the middle of a shining blue coast.

On June 16^th in this south Dublin town

Everyone smiles there’s no chance of being down.

As we stuff a big brunch and polish our boots

And head down to Fitzys in straw hats and suits.

There’s the usual crowd, they’re there all the year

Saying hi to each other, getting in rounds of beer.

Hey Tom get behind there, stop singing your song

The place is jam packed and the queues a mile long.

 A good kick in the arse are what your kids need,

As Ciara and Karl pay not a blind bit of heed.

Cavo shouts loud still dressed for his fish

And Betty turns heads, still got it - the dish.

The folks who just like to have some peace and a read

Must vacate for this day as the mad men are freed.

Cause some one hundred years and a few for good measure

Have landed us here with this wonderful treasure.

In a book no one’s read about a guy no one knows

All we really can say is that we all like the clothes!

Cause walking to eternity along Sandymount strand

Is all anybody knows and sure but isn’t it grand.

Cause the sun sometimes shines and the rain might have stopped

So we all stand outside and some pose we’ll adopt

For the Indo or Times or some online web journal

To capture the day and make it eternal.

Will tears out his hair and just waits for tomorrow

And it’ll come soon enough so cheer up all your sorrow

But I’m not joking mate the place does be in bits

But it’s a small price to pay for all of this glitz.

So Eamon’s closed early and Mikes got his keys

Tom O’Higgins never opened ‘cause there’s moments to seize.

So grab a cold drink and hold it up to the roof

And think of your friends, they're here and that’s the proof.

Of this fine great book just look what it’s done

One hundred years of laughter and all this good fun.

But make the most of it folks cause its closing time soon

And in the morning we’ll be singin’ to a quite different tune.