A Funeral I Saw

A funeral I saw.

Slender, dwelt the mortal’s hand

On gravestones muted now with age

The suit clad soul, still reeling

Steps nettles to her side

So much more than sorrow

Is the loss

Brass name plate, varnished pine

Down in stone and soil

And shaking, placed the single rose

It's dark now, so life goes

Clay thuds on the coffin

And as the darkness shrouds

Loss gets even harder under

Contemplating clouds.

1990 ©️ Gerry Tully

Aging/Growing

Aging/Growing.

It's comfortable now.

Being here

No longer feeling preyed upon.

It's past and I've survived.

Renewed and more alive.

Stale beer and fags

Smell comforting entirely.

So different when you're older

Conversation is a joy.

Nocturnal Creatures, all.

We laugh as we drive by.

Tracing the roads around Meath

Being devoured by the night.

Was a favourite place to hide

We'd laugh, and laugh in spite

Of all that's real like sand and stone

We let it slip beyond confusion

Grown up at last, at rest for now,

Away from all delusion

1995 ©️ Gerry Tully

Journey From The Within

Journey From The Within

After searching, languished bitterly

Then slept each day one hour

Old thoughts leaked to wakefulness

Until finally I saw myself

Curled up, unborn, shaded from the world.

The dim light of Renaissance barely there

Then opening up I hung there

A crucifixion, for a week or more

Until, deep in meditation I awoke!

In the Tower of Babel

Looked out on Eridu and Abzu,

Toward the source

A month more then slithered o’er the edge

Down the White wall to the town

The city burned, I fought, but I could not return

A melding of the truth upon my skin

A torture on the journey from within

Forged; forced, forgotten-follies freed.

Clung to every bit of hope 'til there was none

Then fell, washed out on the sea of Abzu

I found myself alone, at last, the id, the one, the new.

2011 ©️ Gerry Tully

In Deference To Heaney

In Deference to Heaney

August’s light shrinks faster now

We have to settle for the night

We commit to memory, getting older,

Your purity of thought that was our light

You, camera obscura, your

Dry stone-walls and gritty Mossbawn clay

Showed beauty in the weave of things

Even sorrow’s cutting edge could have its way

You’ve slipped that inconvenient shroud

We liked to think we knew

The suit-clad stance, honest smile

Those resonant, blaming tones, of You.

You’ve transcended that axiom - out there in the dew

While we mortals only murmur, wait and hope it’s true

We are without; and must take the savage cost

For us, there is no beauty now we’ve lost

Your perfect, angled, prism of a mind

That conveyed a light of beauty to the blind

2013 © Gerry Tully

Gerry Tully remembering gigs with Finbar Furey

Finbar Furey and Gerry Tully play a selection of songs together in Brogan’s Bar, Trim, County Meath.

In the life of a musician the road twists and turns and not always in the best way. But every now and then you get a call that brightens up your whole year.

Finbar Furey has walked all the roads in music, he’s a champion ulliean piper, and plays low whistle, five-string banjo, and guitar. he’s singer, songwriter and producer. I was introduced to Finbar by Don Baker, I’ll give you all the details of that in another blog.

I was acquainted with Finbar for a few years. Then in 2015 Finbar was asked to do a few gigs around Dublin but his regular band members were busy. Finbar called me and asked if I was free, I wasn’t, but I quickly got someone to fill my own gigs and headed off to meet Finbar for a rehearsal. I called to his home and we got to work on a set list. It was sureal to be rehearsing iconic songs Sweet Sixteen‍ ‍The Lonesome Boatman and The Green Fields of France We went through the set a few times and chatted about music, songs and gigs around Ireland. We chatted for ages, drank tea as Finbar reminisced about his Father, Ted and how he followed the road of music. All of Finbar’s concerts were sell-outs, thoroughly enjoyable, and a pleasure for me to be part of.

A few years later Finbar called into my gig in Brogan’s Bar in my home town of Trim. When my gig ended, Finbar got his banjo and, as you can see in the video above, we played a set together.

A treasured memory of really lovely, hilarious time, spent with one of Ireland’s iconic musicians.

Here’s the set we played. I held on to the setlist to remember a few great gigs.

Welcome

After more than forty years of playing music, there are plenty of songs, stories and memories gathered along the way. This is a place for a few of them — thoughts on music and songwriting, the people and songs that have influenced me, life on the road, and the things you learn from spending a lifetime with a guitar in your hands.

Some stories are worth singing. Others are worth writing down.