A Poem To Share By The Dubliner

[Fly The Boy 339]

Gather round me all ye Ferreting men, listen to what I say

It's about the time we went to hunt, One crisp and frosty day.

We had to call for all the boys 'cause they lived near and far

But that didn't matter very much, 'cause Terry had his car

The first we called for Jacko and then we called for Lar

Darby was the next in line, he didn't live too far.

The we started on the road 'til we came to Brittas Town

Where we called for Boysie Nolan, a man of high renown.

"Sit down there" says Boysie "and we'll have a mug of tae

We'll have a feed of mate and then be on our way".

So when the feed was over, we felt better man for man

Says Boysie as we packed our gear, "I'll tell you of my plan".

"I'll think we'll hit for Talbotstown, there's a good few rabbits there

I saw a few the other day when I went to net a hare".

"That's fair enough" says Terry, "we'll go by what you say",

So we packed all five into the car to start our ferreting day.

As we fixed the ferrets up with bells to put them to the test

"We'll use Jacko's buck", says Darby, "and give Boysie's dog a rest.

Then Jacko's buck went underground, of foot he was so fleet

And the next we heard was thunder, right beneath our feet.

Darby lay down on the ground, and signalled to be quiet

He wanted to pinpoint them, to get the location right

As he moved from left to right, using his left ear

"Throw me out the spade and bar, I have the whole lot here".

Jacko threw the spade and bar and Lar dug up the ground

Darby used his ear again but couldn't hear a sound

Says Lar to Darby "What went wrong? They were right beneath our feet"

"I'll tell you what" says Darby, "sure they must be Adam's deep".

We started searching up and down, the next we head a shout

"O Holy God", says Jacko, "Terry let the rabbit out"

"Shut up your mouth", says Darby, "there's another in it yet"

Next the second bolted out, right through Jacko's net.

There was no sign of the ferret, he was still beneath the ground

We all searched 'round upon our knees, 'til we heard the faintest sound

Boysie took and used the bar and the wind it tossed his hair

Lar came over with the spade and he dug up where we were

Lar he spitted on his hands and then took off his coat

Boysie looked at Darby and slyly cleared his throat

"I'd a good idea where they were, I hunted here before".

We were all surprised when Lar dug down, he'd uncovered two or more.

He dug down about three feet and Jacko put in his hand

And why they were so hard to get I'm sure you'll understand

He first pulled out the ferret, then rabbits one - two - three,

So our luck it must be changing, I'm sure you'll agree.

We worked away an hour or two, we caught another nine

Boysie looked across the ditch, "Now fella's, what's the time?"

Terry glanced down at his watch, and looked sideways at Jack

"It's getting close to opening time, we should be heading back".

So we headed for the Brittas Inn, it was just a mile or so,

But still when we arrived down there we'd half an hour to go.

Says Darby "someone's messin' here, I knew there was a catch"

But I think I know what happened, Terry'd put forward his watch.

When the boozer finally opened and we all trouped inside

Terry went into the jacks, pretending for to hide

'Cause the slagging it was awful and the lies were flowing good

But the lies were only told in jest, I want that understood

When the pub closed down at two o'clock, we'd seven pints apiece

We started back for the big smoke with twelve rabbits in our case.

We made plans for six o'clock to meet up in the pines

Where we'd drink and chat and tell a joke and maybe smoke Woodbines.

This is where we must conclude, we've nothing more to say

But I'm sure you'll agree, we'd a real rewarding day.

So we'll say goodbye to '71, the remainder bring you cheer

And now that Christmas is past and gone, A very Happy New Year.

[Fly The Boy 339]

Please reply tell me what u think of the poem.

[rabbit demon 302]

Seven pints apiece then into the motor for home tut tut lol. Its a good wee poem. Did you write it ?.

[Fly The Boy 339]

No I found it on an Irish hunting forum, a lad under the name Dublin lurcher's found it. His uncle died they clearing out his house and found it on a piece of paper it was very faded and they could just about read the writing. The piece is 44 years old. It's funny the family didn't know about the poem. I wonder did he realise himself how good it is? R.I.P.

[rabbit demon 302]

You can really visualise a bunch mates out ferreting having the craic then heading to the pub after it. Talking about digging with t bars and on hands knees listening for the rabbits back in the day. Id say theres truth to that poem. Its a nice one fly.

[random 659]

You can really visualise a bunch mates out ferreting having the craic then heading to the pub after it. Talking about digging with t bars and on hands knees listening for the rabbits back in the day. Id say theres truth to that poem. Its a nice one fly.

+1

[Fly The Boy 339]

Throw me out the spade and bar,how many times in the season do we repeat does words.

[Sorcha Nolan 1]

Hi, I think my great uncle is the Boysie Nolan mentioned in this poem, he was into hunting, lived in Brittas and was fond of a pint! Would love to know more about the poem, would you know the name of the hunter's forum you found it on originally? Thanks 

[Arry 21,243]

On 05/06/2015 at 16:31, Fly The Boy said:

Please reply tell me what u think of the poem.

Thats grand that Fly. 

Reminds me a lot of ferreting with a certain crowd of mates back in the 70's. We never  got good numbers back then though but would always bugger off to the pub and have the craic and taking the piss.

Cheers Arry