This year, Galway city and county are hosting the European Capital of Culture, which means a celebration of culture throughout the area.  While some exhibitions, performances and activities have been affected by Covid 19, there is still much to see here.

County Galway is of particular personal significance to me, as my husband and I have holidayed there on several occasions, always discovering further layers of natural beauty.

A few years ago, we experienced tranquility at its purest level in Leenane, along with some extraordinary scenery, which I talked about, at length, in a previous post called The Magic of County Galway.  

Before that, when our first daughter was just five months old, we went looking for adventure in Maam Cross, where there is a replica of the cottage depicted in the 1952 film, ‘The Quiet Man’, starring John Wayne and Maureen O’ Hara.

At the time of our visit, not many other tourists were present, so we had the time and space to breathe in the atmosphere and allow our imaginations to flashback memories of the film. 

Hopefully, this poem captures the sensation.

This Quiet House

There are ghosts
in this quiet house.

I pause under John Wayne’s arm;
his true presence was his voice —
notes of a banjo,
long-held, swung-down.

Maureen O’Hara stands
with a pride fulfilled by her
red-gold mane, she is
hands-on-hips, eye-locked intense.

I expect her to tut

but there is no breath
in this hush-filled house —
only the wind sucks in,
bellows out.

K. S. Moore

Photo by Sjaak Kempe on Foter.com / CC BY