The Butcher Boy

Oft times I’d seen the butcher boy in Denis Corkery’s bar
He drove a honda motor bike could not afford a car
He did not believe in misery he let his money fly
Ballydaly’s Richard Regan dark haired butcher boy.

Oft times I’d seen the butcher boy at the Cork greyhound track
The sighs and moans of punters as the favourite dog fell back
He’d tear up his betting ticket another fifty gone
But it did not seem to bother him he’d say life must go on.

A character the butcher boy he’s one I can recall
With the Twomeys and D Dinneen he oft went on pub crawl
They often drunk till closing time and reached home after one
A good night ‘on the session’ their way of having fun.

Where is he now the butcher boy? I’d really like to know
He worked for Larry Moynihan near two decades ago
Does he still work in Millstreet or has he moved away
The far off hills are greener some have been known to say.

Oft times I’d seen the butcher boy in Denis Corkery’s bar
He drove a honda motor bike could not afford a car
He did not believe in misery he let his money fly
Ballydaly’s Richard Regan the dark haired butcher boy.

by Francis Duggan

2 thoughts on “The Butcher Boy”

  1. the dark haired butcher boy now lives in a mansion in the outskirts of millstreet town
    his wife runs a hospital ward in the city of cork
    as a market gardener richard is oft seen tilling that inchy ground
    south of ballydaly creamery where abbey and bill reared their family
    he wears a straw hat just like his uncle danny used to
    when making wines of hay in pat murphys acre many moons ago
    the bible had a prodical son
    now ballydaly also has one#
    a model to all who want change their ways
    the dark haired butcher boy

    <email>

    1. The Once Dark Haired Butcher Boy
      That poem by Denis Murphy felt like a whiff of joy
      On the whereabouts of Richard Regan the once dark haired Butcher Boy
      It seems he is back near Ballydaly in his mansion by the hill
      Though looking a bit older time never does stand still

      I recall Bill and Abby’s son as a dark haired carefree lad
      In his ways a little wayward though in him nothing bad
      With the Twomeys and D Dinneen he often went on pub crawl
      But nothing in life stays the same and that applies to all

      Nowadays he wears a straw hat just like his uncle Dan
      Did when making wynds of hay in Pat Murphy’s acre back then an ageing man
      Most of us follow in the footsteps of the ancestral way
      They do mentor us from their graves as some are known to say

      No longer backing greyhounds at the Cork Greyhound Track
      But now that does seem long ago when in time one does go back
      The once prodigal son nowadays by good example does lead
      Such a story nice to know of and a pleasure for to read

      From Butcher Boy to Market Gardener a more natural way of life
      ‘Tis said behind every good man a good woman or wife
      The once dark haired handsome fellow in life has settled down
      In his mansion by the mountain not far from Millstreet Town.

      by Francis Duggan
      http://francisrhymer.blogspot.com/2012/04/once-dark-haired-butcher-boy.html

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