Monday, June 2, 2008

The Phoenix Park Railway Station


Oh Iarnrod Eireann, ‘tis truly sublime,
This spanking new station so proud and so tall.
Of all of the stations I’ve seen in my time,
‘Tis truly the loveliest I can recall.

‘Twixt dear Castleknock and young Ashtown so fair,
Its welcoming light twinkles bright in the dark.
But why, people ask with a hint of despair,
Did you come up with calling this stop “Phoenix Park?”

The tourists who yearn for the wide open spaces
Alight there expecting an ocean of green.
Imagine the puzzlement etched on their faces,
When a tree or a plant is nowhere to be seen!

Instead there’s a road bearing constant loud traffic,
A footbridge that leads to a housing estate.
The tourist not schooled in this town’s geographic,
Looks this way and that at the new station gate.

Oh Iarnrod Eireann, imagine the fury!
I’m sure that one day someone’s going to explode.
You might as well take them and drop them in Newry,
As leave them head-scratching beside Navan Road.