South of the Liffey, below the Temple Bar
Aungier Street bisects the old Dublin town
With its broad intersections and busy streets
If you’re not going up you’ll be travelling down
In Aungier Street where the spirits are high
Dublin’s heart skips to a raucous beat
In cafés, watching colours as they drift on by
to the traffic noises and the shuffling feet
There’s lurid graffiti on the hoarding boards
down cobbled lanes, street artists paint
To be sure, every pub is an Irish pub
and each shrine is for a Catholic saint
Where guitars blare and the music rocks
A cartoon of Lynott on a street junction box
says there’ll always be whiskey in the jar
From the quaint old book shop, ragged men
eye street girls through dim window panes
‘Cross the street’s a pub called the Bleeding Horse
with wooden booths and mysterious stains
The world comes alive down Aungier street
A stone’s throw from St Stephen’s Green
Enjoy the craic where the strangers meet
Head south and you’ll see what I mean
Steve Wheeler © 29 October, 2021
Image source: Steve Wheeler
