Steps of Lahinch by Joe Healy

Steps of Lahinch

I’ve danced many a set
Since we first poured concrete
For the steps at Lahinch beach.
Spacebars separated steel from shuttering.
We dowelled the old to new so well,
Laid big rocks nearby, to protect against
The Atlantic swell.

So many have used those steps
Playing, loving up and down to the sand.
And you did too Alan, going for your swim.
Your last night to walk on the land.

Now today people wait for the sea,
To return you to the shore
Just as we waited in 1994,
For the tide to go out,
To call in the Ready-Mix truck.

But today it’s the lifeboats,
And the Civil Defence.
Your family clinging, huddled
Hoping against hope.

They bravely searched all day, every inch
Surfing and cutting across the waves
That sweep up to the steps of Lahinch.