“I was born a boy and have remained one ever since. Friends and relatives, often urge me to grow up and take an interest in politics, whiskey, race meetings, foreign securities, poor rates, options and other things that men talk about, but no – I am still the small boy messing about with a paintbox, or amusing myself with pencil and paper, while fogies of forty determine the Kaiser’s next move.”
William Percy French.
Further Songs & Poems
“ Goosey, Goosey, Gander ”
Roley Poley
Mother’s Fairies
The Valley of Dunloe
Lines written in praise of Joan Phyllis French
Lines in a Swiss Hotel
“ If I was a Lady ”
“ If ”
The Musician to his Love
The Killyran Wrackers
Ballinaddy
The Islands of Arran
A Little Girl’s Prayer
Sweet Lavender
Cremorne
“ Tell me, O Captain ”
“ Paradise ”
Celestial Painting
Off to the West Indies
Retrospection
“ The only way out of it ”
The next Landing of the French
Hiawatha’s Motoring
Red-Letter Days
L’Envoi
Smiles
Fighting McGuire
Carmody’s Mare
The Cruise of the Pirate Bus
Sweet Marie
Father O’Callaghan
Mick’s Hotel
“ Are ye right there, Michael? ”
The Darling Girl from Clare
Come Back, Paddy Reilly
An Irish Mother
To the West
The Queen’s After-Dinner Speech
Prose & Parodies
Short Plays & Dialogues
The Letter from the Front
Gloom
The Children’s Party
Examination for the post of Editor of Irish Cyclist
The First Lord Lieutenant
My Friend Finnegan
Michael O’Ryan gets the Pension
Larksmead School Breaks Up