Caoch the Piper - The Potbelly Folk

`One winter's day, long, long ago, When I was a little fellow, A piper wandered to the door, Grey-headed, blind and yellow; And oh! how glad was my young heart, though earth and sky looked dreary, to see the stranger and his dog - Poor "Pinch" and Caoch O'Leary.'
Most Irish people learned this poem in primary school and while they can repeat the lines, few can remember who wrote this simple, gentle piece of verse.
The author was John Keegan, who was born in 1816 and died in 1849. He was a native of Shanahoe, Co Laois, and drew his inspiration from the people and the landscape of his native county.
His first poems were published in the Leinster Express and his most famous poem, Caoch the Piper, was first printed in the Irish National Magazine in May 1846.
A contemporary of Mangan, Carleton, Banim and Edgeworth, Keegan was a leading figure in the Nation circle of writers and poets who were very influential in their time.
Keegan, who died of cholera in Dublin when he was only 33, was a journalist and left an impressive body of literature behind. His work has been out of print for almost 100 years but now this has been rectified with the publication of John Keegan - Selected Works, which is edited by Tony Delaney.

[@jerrya.oneillballads6372]

Powerful rendition of that grand old classic. Well done Den Joe.

[@kathykuhn5000]

love this

[@patflannery3828]

Fantastic