Joe Dinneen Poem by Francis Duggan

His brother Patrick compiled the first Irish-English Dictionary and was big in the Irish literary scene
But things were very different for the old poet Joe Dinneen
And though he penned the marvellous ballad of Sliabh Luachra's Moving Bog
It's been said that his barrier to greatness was his fondness of the grog.

An aged man i knew in Duhallow years ago and far away
Said he once met Joe in Cullen it was on Latiaran Day
He said the old poet of Sliabh Luachra then was looking old and gray
But the genius that was in him till his end with him did stay.

He penned verses for the the locals and joined them in the pub sing song
And he drank dark pints of porter and made merry all night long
And he recited his verses to loud applause and an encore
And they loved old Joe the great bard from the Parish of Rathmore.

He died at Headford station under the wheels of the Cork-Killarney train
As he walked the tracks on his way home, his end sudden without pain
But there was sadness in Sliabh Luachra when the news it went around
That the remains of the old poet on the railway tracks were found.

I knew an old man in Duhallow who as a school boy of thirteen
One Latiaran day in Cullen met the old poet Joe Dinneen
He penned verses for the locals and joined them in the pub sing song
And he drank dark pints of porter and he recited all night long.