{"id":445,"date":"2022-02-14T14:39:00","date_gmt":"2022-02-14T14:39:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jimclarke.net\/?p=445"},"modified":"2022-02-22T00:35:09","modified_gmt":"2022-02-22T00:35:09","slug":"molloy-and-malone-magee-and-muldoon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jimclarke.net\/index.php\/2022\/02\/14\/molloy-and-malone-magee-and-muldoon\/","title":{"rendered":"Molloy and Malone, Magee and Muldoon"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I saw an old photograph of the road where my house is recently. It dated from sometime in the early 20th century, and featured a horsedrawn hearse with four formally-dressed funeral directors smoking while waiting outside a church for the funeral service to end. It captivated me, the life-in-death-in-life of it. Alas, I can no longer find it on the interwebs, but it evoked an era possibly contemporaneous with this one, from 1914.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Picture taken from a gallery posted online by BelfastLive.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anyhow, it inspired a bit of verse, written for no good reason in an approximation of iambic pentameter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Molloy and Malone, Magee and Muldoon<\/strong>


Molloy and Malone, Magee and Muldoon<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wait by the roadside, Tuesday afore noon,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Outside the wee redbrick church that was built<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With money raised from parishioner guilt.


Magee and Muldoon, Molloy and Malone<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Come from the New Lodge, the Ardoyne, the Bone<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To bury, when time comes around at last,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The dearly departed of all North Belfast.


Muldoon and Molloy, Malone and Magee,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Smoking in black suits of conformity,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Won\u2019t darken the door of the chapel at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They prefer the bar, or the grey snooker hall.


Malone and Magee, Muldoon and Molloy,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scowl at the sunshine which they can\u2019t enjoy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Theirs is the burden and theirs is the curse<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To hoist us on their shoulders and into the hearse<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I saw an old photograph of the road where my house is recently. It dated from sometime in the early 20th century, and featured a horsedrawn hearse with four formally-dressed funeral directors smoking while waiting outside a church for the funeral service to end. It captivated me, the life-in-death-in-life of it. Alas, I can no … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Molloy and Malone, Magee and Muldoon”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5,1],"tags":[261,127],"class_list":["post-445","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poetry","category-uncategorized","tag-belfast","tag-poetry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t