Home From Home - A Poem For My Father JOHN FRANCIS BARRY Who Passed Monday, 7 December 2015 in Dublin's Beaumont Hospital, Aged 86... Love From All Of Us To You...

                                                              

                                                   
                                                    

                                                 HOME FROM HOME

And so it begins – the final journey from a Cancer Bed we’ve all been dreading

Five siblings united from afar by a loss that seems so unreal and stark –

Remembering the devotion of all those Nurses at Dublin’s Beaumont Hospital

Following nine long years of care by Jonathan & Mum at Castilla Park - 

But I keep on thinking about your sheer enthusiasm for life at ‘86 years of age’

“…Live and let live…” was your simple and often-quoted philosophy –

Journeys in the Anglia to Waterford’s Mount Melleray Abbey with nattering kids

Buttered Marietta biscuits, egg sandwiches and mugs of Volcano Tea -

Our Dad loved King Kong, The Guns Of Navarone and Jason and The Argonauts

Dusting with Emitex Cleaning Clothes and the warmth of Classical LPs –

He played a mean upright Piano and Organ and did zippy licks on the Trombone

Once graced the Dublin Orchestral Players with his phrasing expertise –

Poppy loved train journeys, garden rockeries and biogs about Historical Figures

Drives out to Howth, his wife’s angel paintings and a browse around HMV –

He’d marvel at the frame-by-frame clarity of “Snow White” on a restored Blu Ray

Looking spiffing on our hugely with it Samsung Plasma upscaling 4K TV –

He’d travel to the other side of Dublin to get a raised batch of freshly baked bread

And risk hours of allergic sniffles for some Neapolitan ice cream and jelly –

He adored Carl Sagan, Kenneth Clark, Jacob Bronowski and David Attenborough

The Antiques Roadshow on Sundays & the consistent quality of BBC telly –

He fell madly in love with Olivia de Havilland in “The Adventures of Robin Hood”

And I was 10 when he took me to see Stanley Kubrick’s Odyssey “2001...” –

We’d all would howl with laughter at Mel Blanc’s Tweety Bird & Foghorn Leghorn

Terry Thomas, Jack Lemmon and Kenneth Williams oohing in Carry On -

He’d devour the Yearly Review in December’s issue of The Gramophone Magazine

And circle interesting programs in yellow in the fortnightly Radio Times –

He proudly collected Jonathan’s paintings on the covers of Wordsworth Classics

Cathy’s books, Ian Fleming, The Bible and Spike Milligan’s witty rhymes –

An Irishman is genetically programmed to talk and our Dad was exactly the same

Praising women on cookery programs with big appetites and Monroe hips -

Regaling stories about meeting Ray Harryhausen and seeing Laurel & Hardy live

While downing Kimberley Coconut Creams and eleven gallons of PG Tips - 

Our Dad was a daily communicant at Mass and truly believed in a Higher Power

He practised real-world Christianity and wasn’t just acting out a pious part –

Worked tirelessly as a Leader in Dr. Abraham Lowe’s Recovery for over 40 years

Giving frightened souls - imprisoned by their nerves - a precious new start –

There’s a collage of family photographs pinned to a large noticeboard in our kitchen

Decades of generations flowing from Mom and Dad’s loving parental caress –

Mark, Frances, Catherine, Jonathan and Damien Barry - and all their wee sundries

Sporting natty hairdos from ‘85 and embarrassing modes of Seventies dress –

And now a life well-lived - ends with a Church Service that’s overflowing with love

Remembered as a Rock to us all – left here awash in a sea of emotional foam –

Go to the angels in Paradise John Francis Barry and like that old Fifties photo of you
You’re young again in your dapper sunglasses – in your new home from home...

A Poem For John Francis Barry - My Father

Who Passed Away Monday, 7 Dec 2015 in Dublin's Beaumont Hospital

Aged 86 Years And Counting...

Written by Mark Barry for him and his family....