When my Irish parents retired form their careers in England, my Dad accepted an invitation from the Commissioner of Irish Lights, Dublin for an opportunity as Lighthouse Keeper Attendant at Minehead Lighthouse, Ring, Old Parish, County Waterford, Ireland, He was following in the footsteps of 3 former family generations who had been transatlantic Long Sailing Ship (schooner) Captains and Officers in the Irish Lights and manned the various lighthouse stations around Ireland during the first world war, the Irish war of independence, the Irish Civil War and the second world war.
The great cliffs of Ireland had been having an intimate conversation with the Irish Sea for billions of years, and listening to the ancient rhythms of ebb and flow gave my parents a sense of being part of the great cycles of nature. It was something to behold going to sleep in such a fortress of the lighthouse cottages, that the two of them together felt secure that nothing destructive could touch them. Their sense of their own personal destiny brought them into a rhythm of balance and belonging. In the autumn time of their lives, their experiences together became harvested, a time of great gathering of all that went before. I am sure they became aware of the sacred circle that shelters all our lives. In those quiet, sunny days, when I stayed with them, I observed they had developed a time of personal strength, belonging and poise in their togetherness. They inherited the rhythm of the great Spiritual Cloud of Unknowing. After my mother passed, my father and I spent a lot of time in the in the mountains of Cork, Waterford and Tipperary, and looking over the Irish Landscape he would say "now there's a country worth fighting for," and he would always recite a poem by Irish Poet James Orr, a verse I have included below.
Having experienced 62 years of marriage together, they are buried together in Youghal, County Cork in their native Ireland.
The savage loves his native shore,
Though damp the soil and chill the air;
Then well may Erin's sons adore
Their isle which nature formed so fair,
What flood reflects a shore so sweet
As Shannon great or pastoral Bann?
Or who a friend or foe can meet
So generous as an Irishman?
Dr. Leo M. Crowley MD.
Consulting Physician,
Fellow of the American College of Preventive Medicine
Dr Crowley is the author of his father's upcoming autobiography of "Authentic Tales from the Irish Lighthouses 1914 - 1934" published by Pisces Press USA.
