Ireland Wildlife Wildside Wexford Irish Natural History

The Castle

(Barn Owl)

Blackbird

by

The Bat

Don Conroy

Barn Owl

As twilight falls upon the ruin
A blackbird scolds departing light
While woodcock 'roding' at the moon
And bats take flight
Those messengers of night

A meditative silence around me crept
A silence so intense
That the world had stopped to rest

Alone I waited
With excitement and care
For beware the castle lore
Of demons and ghosts
That stalk the night once more

 From out of dwellings dark
Came a hissing and a snoring
Then a SHRIEK! My heart did leap
No ghost or shade I saw
On silent wingéd flight
But a beautiful white bird of night
Who made its nest
Where king or squire once did rest

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