Matt Mooney - The Signalman

I see him as the signalman
On the unseen tracks of time
A family priest for all of us-
As we travel down the line.

Railway stations made him blue
When he was young and leaving home-
I wonder if it was his Signalman
That for so long kept him going? .

He taught the boys of Wexford
By the Barrow in New Ross
And at a later time the Déise lads
In Dungarvan’s lovely town;
A chaplin in Dublin's Liberties
Now in Limerick nearer home;
The road that led to his priesthood
Had earlier started off in Rome.

In his vestments with a bell of brass
Before the quarter past eleven mass,
Ringing out “Come all ye within”
To that little hospital Chapel
That always has been dear to him.

Augustine's''Lord we are restless''
''Until we rest with Thee''
He quoted freely at his Golden Jubilee.

He has always been our signalman
Along the unseen tracks of time:
A family priest for everyone
As we are travelling down the line.

Matt Mooney

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-signalman/