The Bridge On The Road To The Gap Of Dunloe Poem by Richard Trembath

There's a bridge on the road
To the Gap of Dunloe
Where two streams meet and mingled flow
As one through Kerry's countryside
To join the River Loe.

We start our sacred journey
Where pilgrims trod before,
In view of Skellig Michael
On Ireland's western shore.
From the splendour of Killarney
We traverse this verdant land,
Its unmeasured miles of beaches
Deserted, untouched sand.
From the mystic, distant Skelligs
Our journey takes us still
To beyond the Kerry Mountains,
Conor Pass and Waterville.
To the holly trees converging
On the single-lane dirt road
And beyond the bend, a bridge
Inviting travellers: ‘Rest your load'.
And beneath the bridge the merging
Of two sparkling, rippling streams
And ahead a horse-drawn wagon
Like a vision from a dream
As it plods on through the country,
All unhurried, slow,
Past lakes and rough stone fences
Heading north towards Dunloe.